Scouting for Success

It has been a busy few weeks here in Centerville, and NH3 and dry fertilizer are getting close to being wrapped up. We had a welcome rain event that came through the area. It seems like everyone was ready for a small break in the field work. Planters have just started to move in the past week, and this has got us started on some spraying for the season. I wanted to take a minute to discuss the importance of scouting your fields for weeds and using that to make decisions in our weed control program. New trait platforms in soybeans have made weed control easier, but we still need to manage these resistant weeds so we don’t run into issues down the road. It is still important to use residual chemistries and overlap residuals when possible. This process starts by getting out and looking at the weeds we have in the fields. Resistant marestail needs to be treated differently than other easily controlled winter annuals and its important to know what we are dealing with going in to avoid issues after the field has been sprayed. Resistant weeds are very hard to control after a failed herbicide attempt, so it is best to put our most effective program out first to have the best chance at success.