Why farmers should be thinking fall burndown
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The challenging conditions farmers saw this spring could have lasting and costly implications to their operations — beyond just lost harvest. That’s because as historically wet weather pushed many farmers to forgo planting on acres planned for soybeans and other crops, it opened the door for a number of ALS- and glyphosate-resistant weeds to take root with little to no competition.
“This year was very unusual because of the scale of the areas affected by prevent plant,” says Mike Koenigs, market development specialist with Corteva Agriscience. “It’s common to have small pockets of prevent plant in areas, but it’s uncommon that so many key states are impacted like they were in 2019.”
Now, with so many acres prevent planted or left fallow, this year is critical for those farmers to find solutions to managing that potential seedbank now, or risk having to invest significant weed control resources in the future.
Many summer annuals like waterhemp and Palmer amaranth are capable of producing hundreds of thousands of seeds per plant. In fall, the problem only intensifies as winter annuals like marestail emerge. If these plants are allowed to go to seed and overwinter, their massive seedbanks may infest fields for several years.
“Weed management is especially critical on prevent plant acres,” Koenigs says. “One year of no weed management can have a longer-term impact on a farm. Let it go for one year, and it’s likely that you’ll be fighting this problem the next seven years.”
A fall burndown treatment helps control emerged weeds and, more important, stops them from depositing their potentially devastating seedbank in the soil.
“An effective fall burndown program is the best recommendation for prevent plant acres,” Koenig says. “It gets you ahead of the winter annuals to help prevent an explosion of the weed seedbank and really gets you a head start on the 2020 crop.”
The newest option available to farmers is Elevore® herbicide. Elevore employs a systemic approach that kills weeds from the inside out, delivering more thorough control — even of marestail up to 8 inches tall.
The results provide farmers with numerous benefits, including a more streamlined workload with fewer hours of spring work, better-prepared fields at planting and the opportunity for increased yield potential come next harvest.
Five key benefits of fall burndown with Elevore® herbicide
- Controls actively growing winter annuals, including marestail up to 8 inches tall and other ALS- and glyphosate-resistant weeds, such as henbit, lambsquarters and cutleaf evening primrose
- Low use rate of 1 ounce per acre makes it an excellent fit for fall burndown with customers using reduced- or no-till production systems
- Fights weed resistance with a new active ingredient, Arylex® active
- Prevents regrowth of emerged broadleaf weeds for complete control
- Easily tank-mixes with commonly used burndown and residual tank-mix partners
Elevore is labeled for use in soybeans, corn and cotton and is tank-mix-compatible with commonly used burndown and residual herbicide partners, including glyphosate and 2,4-D. Additionally, through Sept. 30, customers that have earned Corteva™ Cash through the TruChoice® offer can use it to purchase Elevore.
Every state has been affected differently. Contact your local Corteva Agriscience territory manager for more information and to get a plan in place that works for your customers.