Before Spraying, Check Emergence

Before the rain we had a good run of planting and spraying. A lot of seeds were put into the ground in a short amount of time. The windy conditions made spraying tough and there are some fields out there that do not have a pre chemical applied. There are worries with the wet weather that some fields may emerge before the chemical applicator will get there. This can make things more difficult but there are options to make it work.

A lot of the pre chemicals on beans will have to be changed if the beans emerge. We will need to wait for the first trifoliate to spray the beans, so we do not break them off. Using Enlist or Liberty with a good residual would be a good option. Some have asked why we don’t try to spray them just once after the beans emerge. I have seen people try this and it always fails - the weeds end up coming back again. Plan on doing a second pass in the same manner as the first pass.

Although I do not recommend it, corn can be a different story. If the corn does emerge before the applicator gets there, you could put on a heavier rate of residual and possibly get by. It seems to be easier to keep a corn field clean than it is to keep a bean field clean.

Sooner than later the weather will straighten up and we will be back in the fields. Before going to the field to spray, make sure you check for possible emergence of the crop and adjust plans if necessary. If you have any questions, give your SFG agronomist a call.