Marestail Posing a Challenge for Farmers this Spring

After a mild winter, conditions are now favorable for a higher percentage of the marestail weed on farm fields this year according to a Purdue University weed specialist.

Farmers will need to act now in the early planting season to make sure marestail doesn’t take over their field.  They need to be aware of how much marestail is in their fields.  Travis Legleiter,  a weed science program specialist in the Department of Botany and Plant Pathology at Purdue University suggests a burndown as the best method to control a marestail infestation using herbicides other than 2,4-D and glyphosate.

Identification is important to battling weed infestation.  Besides marestail, farmers should also be aware of giant ragweed, Palmer amaranth and waterhemp.  Farmers who need help identifying weeds can send samples to the Purdue Plant and Pest Diagnostic Laboratory.  The cost is $11 a sample for Indiana residents and $22 for non-Indiana residents.

It’s also important for farmers to inspect fields regularly and clean equipment, especially when moving between fields and heavy weed populations this also goes for fields with small or no weed populations.

When using herbicides, Legleiter urges the importance of applying them while the weeds are 2-4 inches tall for the best effectiveness.   For perfect resistance management, not only is it important to apply herbicides early, but also apply a mixture of herbicides with different sites of action.  Sites of action refer to where, on a molecular level, the herbicide affects the weed.   Farmers can us the Herbicide Classification chart at http://bit.ly/1Mj6IfC; to aid in choosing different sites of actions herbicides.  If a farmer uses many sites of action, where one can fail the other can pick up. 

If farmers follow the advice given by Legleiter, their fields could have a fighting chance against the marestail weed this season.  This could reduce stress and hardship in the long run to have healthy and profitable yields.