Spraying weeds on soybeans

Steve Bartylla
QDMA Member

Weeds can be our friend

For as much as we focus on killing weeds, I thought I should point out how they can be used to our advantage. Sometimes, weeds can be our saving grace.

The Situation
Poor germination rate of soybeans, due to receiving way too much rain after planting. At the same time, the property has high deer numbers that over browse thin or stunted bean plots to death. Though this was the specific situation, I’ve successfully used this approach in other settings where over browsing is a serious concern, including on smaller plots with good stands of beans.

Making the Best of a Bad Situation
The original plan was to spray the beans with RoundUp in late June. Upon seeing the poor germination rate and stunted growth of the beans, I decided not wendells dating site to spray, as the weeds were actually protecting the beans in their short, still very vulnerable to browsing state.

To walk the line between weeds choking out the beans and the protection they provide from browsing, I delayed spraying for as long as possible. http://jhvprecisionengg.com/cyuz/webcams-in-charelston/ In this case, I could push it to July 19.

At this point, I sprayed them with a generic RoundUp and Ammonium Sulfate combination. I then gave the grass and weeds until the 22nd to start to yellow and shrivel some, but not yet lay arabic sex movies online down.

I then sprayed them with a liquid foliar fertilizer. They were now big enough to withstand browse pressure better. However, I wanted to give them a good growth spurt, to help make up for the stress the weeds put them under.

Frankly, if the weeds hadn’t been so high, I would have mixed the foliar fertilizer in with the RoundUp and Ammonium Sulfate, but I’d have wasted too much fertilizer on the grasses and weeds. It would help accelerate the burn down process. Still, not enough would have gotten on the beans.

I followed the spraying with a surface seeding of a mixture of brassicas. Now, as the weeds and grasses lay down, they can trap the seed between the soil and dead grasses and weeds. Using this method, with the first even light rain, they will germinate and start filling in the thin beans. The layer of weeds and grass will also help minimize soil moisture loss until sex dating in washburn illinois the brassicas fill in the canopy.

Long story short, I first used the weeds to protect the beans, as deer don’t like getting poked in the nose and eyes by as they pick for the bean plants. It worked, as I now have salvageable bean plots. If I had sprayed in June, they would have been wiped out. Also, the now dead layer of grass and weeds both will help to retain soil moisture and possibly accelerate the germination of the brassicas. Sure, if the first rain is a good singles galloway ohio one, the brassicas would germinate either www.rejuvenatesd.com singles in winnipeg way, but it can be list of new rap singles a difference maker in lighter rains.