Staying Ahead of Weeds

There is an old saying, "what comes around goes around." That is true of weed control. When I was growing up all the corn and beans had a herbicide applied and incorporated before planting. Then you sprayed any escape weeds after the crop was growing. That all changed with the biotechnology revolution and Round-Up Ready beans and corn. With Round-Up, you let the weeds grow, sprayed and killed them all. About a month later you sprayed with Round-Up again. It is not that simple any more.

With weed species shifts, some tolerance and resistance have increased so a couple of passes of Round-Up don't work like they used to. We are back to spraying corn and beans with a pre-plant or pre-emergence herbicide. Then coming back later in the season with Round-Up, many times tank-mixed with other herbicides. One of the herbicides I am spraying my beans with here is Dual II Magnum. This is a herbicide than has been on the market for more than 30 years. It was not used much for about 20 years. Now it has a place again and works very well. What goes around comes around!