pigweed field day july 17 near robinsonville

[hillhunter]

We are dealing with some full blown cases of resistant pigweed here in Chickasaw Co. Let me tell you, the best way to control these things is to never see them. If your dealing with a large population and a large percentage see the light of day and get more than 2 inches in height, then its going to be an uphill and nearly impossible battle. Just watched a guy plow up 20 acres of beans cause he couldnt get control. Not a good feeling.

I looked at a dicamba plot on one of my customers the other day and was surprised at how much the new formulation did not drift. Was sprayed right in the middle of an existing field, but three to four rows over there was very little symptomology. My understanding is that they waited until they had a 10 mph wind to create a drift situation. Looked impressive to me from a drift standpoint.

[Wingman]

To change the subject a little but concerning drift, it's as much to do with nozzle types as anything with most herbicides. When I was in the spraying biz I drove to Louisiana one morning and picked up a set of air induction nozzles, drove back home, put them on my sprayer and immediately sprayed a field in blustery spring winds. I sprayed a lot of acres with air induction tips when I would've had to sit and wait with regular flat fan tips or even a hooded sprayer.

[donia]

is the crux of air induction to force larger droplets or is it forcing the same size droplets as "normal" tips without the "turbine" effect (for lack of a more knowledgable term).

[Wingman]

It puts air inside a droplet, which makes a larger droplet that won't drift like smaller ones. But it spreads nicely when it hits the leaf so you get good coverage.

[hillhunter]

I have never gotten good coverage with an air induction nozzle, even at rates up to 20 GPA with correct adjuvants in the tank. It works fine with roundup, 2,4-d or other systemics, but when your actually trying to cover a plant they dont cut it. Every gramoxone complaint i have ever had involved air-induction tips. Flat fans or twin jets are necessary in the pigweed fight where coverage may be the most critical aspect of the application.

[Wingman]

I ran them for 4 years, spraying probably a hundred thousand acres and never had an issue. I can't remember if I put out gramoxone with them or not.

[hillhunter]

Yea I dont doubt that. You probably also had roundup or some other systemic in the tank on most of your applications. Roundup as good as it is before resistance made a lot of folks forget about coverage cause all you had to do was get some on it and wammo it was dead, 2,4-d, dicamba are the same way. You ask any industry rep in the last two years about coverage and the two words you hear come out of their mouth is water and tips. Monsanto had entire parts of their field days dedicated to spray tips and application last year and none of them want the air-induction nozzles these days. Not trying to start an argument, but the herbicide industry as a whole has evolved really quick in the last two-three years due solely to the pigweed and a lot of their efforts are centered around application methods.

[Wingman]

My neighbor put out Sencor and Gramoxone this year with a hooded sprayer. I have it all over my plum tree from across the 4-lane highway and it drifted across the road and got the neighbors, too.

But it did a heck of a job covering the weeds in his soybean field.

[SWAG]

Coverage has always been a priority with herbicides. It comes down to a trade off in some situations. Are there sensitive crops or plants in the area and can I control my drift? What is the wind going to do? What are the temps today? Air induction tips have certinly had their place. I would love to spray all the time with flat tips, 15-20 gallons of water/acre, and enough pressure to break droplet size down to where I am "fogging" it in there......but seldom do I see those condition exist where I can do that. Herbicides certainly work better when applied that way. I would guess that there are as many Gramoxone complaints out there every year because weeds were too large for the product to actually kill them as there are complaints because of coverage. Flat tips, fan tips, air induction tips.....we better have them all on hand on any given day.

[Warren]

What swag said +100. There are also some good products out and coming to help with drift.

[Northbigmuddy]

Just to muddy the waters. What grinds my gears are reps and industry experts talking out of both sides of their mouth. "You need to spray these weeds TODAY maybe yesterday, but the wind is up a bit so you shouldn't spray." Give me a break. I spend a great deal of time placing my crops in specific areas for rotational and drift concerns. I have seen definite progress. My place was never overtaken by weeds and now I've got it to a few problem spots. Scorched earth is probably the best way to describe my plan. I would estimate a 95% success rate this year maybe higher. I would appreciate the industry talking down to the idiots spraying 40+oz/ac Liberty on 3 foot tall pigweeds. Those are the clowns that are going to ruin the deal for all of us. It's a catch 22 at best. I don't want anymore regulation, but some folks need some repercussions.

[Northbigmuddy]

[SWAG]

[hillhunter]

[digger]

Got a buddy that had a crew pulling by hand in some of his bean's went about 30yds in 3hrs think he ended up spraying something that would kinda hurt the beans for alittle bit but they would recover.Also got a tater farmer buddy got a crew hand pulling a 25 acre field in front of my house.