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Showing posts from May, 2016

Stay on top of giant ragweed

Lisa Behnken, Extension Educator, Fritz Breitenbach, IPM Specialist SE Minnesota, Jeff Gunsolus, Extension Agronomist, Weed Science, and Phyllis Bongard, Content Development and Communications Specialist, University of Minnesota Photo 1. Giant ragweed in corn herbicide trial at Rochester, MN, May 20,2016. Plot was planted April 25, 2016. The recent frost across southeast Minnesota may have slowed down corn and soybean development, but it did not slow down the rate of weed growth. There are plenty of 1-4 inch giant ragweed and 1-2 inch common lambsquarters in corn and soybean fields. Waterhemp is also beginning to emerge (1/4 – 3/4 inch). The current dilemma that needs to be addressed is most evident in fields where a preemergence herbicide was not used or it provided poor giant ragweed control. In addition, our recent 1-2 inch rainfall may limit the ability to get into the field in a timely manner to control the weeds when they are most susceptible to control and before they

Laundering Pesticide-Contaminated Clothing

By Lizabeth Stahl, Extension Educator – Crops, and Dean Herzfeld, Pesticide Safety Education Coordinator A question raised at several Private Pesticide Applicator workshops this year was how to best handle pesticide-contaminated clothing. Although waterproof suits and aprons are key pieces of personal protective equipment (PPE) to wear when handling, mixing, loading, or applying pesticides, conventional work clothing is the primary label-required PPE for many products. Proper handling of pesticide-contaminated clothing can minimize pesticide residues in the home and avoid human exposure.

Potential impact of cold temperatures on herbicide-induced crop injury and effective weed control

Jeff Gunsolus, Extension Agronomist - Weed science Last week’s cold and wet conditions followed by the weekend’s frost creates the potential for herbicide-induced crop injury from soil- and post- applied herbicides as well as reduced postemergence weed control. Postemergence applications The warmer and dryer conditions projected for this week are encouraging for crop recovery. Therefore it is wise to allow for a few days of warm weather for the crops and weeds to recover before heading out to the field to apply any postemergence herbicide. Your crops need time to recover so they can adequately metabolize the herbicide, thus preventing herbicide-induced crop injury and the weeds will need time to recover before they can take up the herbicide and move the herbicide to active growing sites.

The Three Biggies: Urea, Anhydrous Ammonia, and UAN

Fabián G. Fernández Nitrogen (N) fertilizer is extremely important for crop production. There are many sources available in the marketplace, but the three most important in order of tonnage sales for Minnesota are urea, anhydrous ammonia, and urea ammonium nitrate (UAN). Since many are very busy applying N and doing other field operations at this time, my purpose is not to go into a lengthy discussion on N sources but I thought it would be good to review a few important points.