Jerry’s Weeds Are Growing

Even though we had a lot of cold wet weather this spring that slowed down corn planting compared to many years the weather has not slowed down the weeds. I noticed a lot of Lambs Giant ragweed and Lamb's Quarter weeds that were already 2 or 3 inches tall in my fields. There were a lot of them in low areas or potholes where they went to seed a couple of years ago.

In the wet years of 2013 and 2014, many potholes and low areas drowned out. Without a crop there, weeds had no competition and they flourished. Later in the summer I thought about trying to get to those areas in the fields to try and control the weeds. However, I would have destroyed corn and beans driving to those areas to spray the weeds. The result was we really built up the weed seed bank in the soil that will haunt us for many more years.