Weed Management

Published Feb 5, 1995

Three other trials were devoted specifically to weed management. Ted and Donna Bauer, Audubon, compared banding to broadcasting herbicide in soybeans. They did not take weed counts, but yields were the same in both treatments (Table 6). They found it was more economical to band and cultivate twice than to cultivate just once and broadcast.

Paul and Karen Mugge, Sutherland, evaluated ridge-till corn with and without a grass herbicide (Table 6). Both treatments received a broadleaf herbicide. In place of the grass herbicide, they substituted four rotary hoeings. While there was no significant difference in yields, the cost of the four trips with the hoe made that system less profitable. There was a tendency for hoeing to control grassy weeds better than the herbicide, but it fell just short of being statistically significant at the 95% confidence level.

Dick and Mary Jane Svoboda, Aurora, compared banded herbicide to a weed-suppressing cover crop of annual medic (Table 6). A relative of alfalfa, the medic is supposed to compete with weeds early in the season, then die back and let the crop grow through. Unfortunately, the medic establishment was very poor, so there was no observable effect on weeds.