weed in a field

Tips for herbicide weed control when it’s cool and wet

When weeds are growing slowly they absorb less herbicide, while stressed crops are more susceptible to injury

Cool, wet weather, especially in southwestern Manitoba, has delayed seeding and now it’s complicating weed control. Muddy soils have delayed, or prevented farmers from doing a pre-plant weed burn-off allowing weeds to get bigger than the optimum stage for herbicide control. Lionel Kaskiw, a farm production adviser with Manitoba Agriculture, Food and Rural Development (MAFRD)

Authority herbicides now registered for soybeans in Western Canada

When tank mixed with glyphosate soybean growers can get 
immediate and residual weed control and delay 
glyphosate-resistant weeds

Authority herbicides are now registered for conventional and Roundup Ready soybeans, giving Manitoba farmers the option for residual weed control and another tool to delay the onset of glyphosate-tolerant weeds, including kochia. Authority (sulfentrazone) can be tank mixed with glyphosate and applied pre-plant surface or pre-emergent surface to control kochia, lamb’s quarters, red root pigweed


Tips for when soybean seeding runs late

Tips for when soybean seeding runs late

Consider boosting your seeding rate to help offset the negative effects of delayed seeding

When seeding soybeans later in the season farmers should consider increasing their seeding rate to bolster yields, a Manitoba Pulse Growers Association production specialist says. Kristen Podolsky said in an interview getting canopy closure by the first week of July is key to getting good soybean yields. “Soybean flowering is triggered by day length. As

foxtail barley

Get on controlling foxtail barley early

The weed is becoming more prevalent in the southwest

Foxtail barley is getting worse in southwest Manitoba and it’s best controlled before seeding, says Lionel Kaskiw, Manitoba Agriculture, Food and Rural Development’s farm production specialist in Souris. “It seems to be a weed that has taken over since 2011 in some fields and producers are having some issues on how to control it,” Kaskiw


Kochia seedling

Manitoba’s first glyphosate-resistant weed confirmed

The good news is, the weed was found at only two sites out of 283 surveyed last fall

Manitoba has its first official glyphosate-resistant weed, and as expected, it is kochia. But out of 283 fields surveyed last fall, only two were found with glyphosate-resistant kochia. Both are in the Red River Valley. “I was surprised about where it was found,” Bruce Brolley, Manitoba Agriculture, Food and Rural Development’s (MAFRD) crops knowledge centre

Roundup Ready alfalfa’s release delayed another year

Forage Genetics International is planning on-farm hay trials in Eastern Canada

Forage Genetics International (FGI) has decided to hold off on commercial sales of its herbicide-tolerant genetically modified (GM) alfalfa this spring, but it will conduct on-farm trials in Eastern Canada. “FGI will not be having any spring of 2014 sales. But what we’re doing this spring is putting in a small number of on-farm evaluation


Palmer amaranth

Glyphosate-resistant weeds a real and present danger

Canadian farmers are being warned to be careful not to lose their most precious weed-control resource

It’s like an episode of the old TV show “The Twilight Zone” — farmers repeatedly spray their crops but the weeds refuse to die. But that’s reality for many farmers in the mid-southern United States. Glyphosate, “the world’s greatest herbicide,” is no longer effective there due to an explosion of glyphosate-resistant weeds caused by a

Noxious weed control to be strengthened in Manitoba

Keystone Agricultural Producers’ president Doug Chorney is anxious to see details on how the Manitoba government will better protect farmland from noxious weeds as part of its ban on cosmetic pesticides. “I am encouraged by that, but we want to make sure that is the case,” Chorney said July 3 in an interview. “It’s important


Potato seed growers want less herbicide drift

Potato seed growers want less herbicide drift

Sometimes potato plants show no signs of damage, but tuber germination can suffer and only be discovered the following year


When it comes to seed potatoes and herbicide drift, what you can’t see can hurt you. Increased use of glyphosate as a pre-harvest burn-down, as well as increased acreage for Roundup Ready corn and soybeans, has upped the use of the ubiquitous herbicide — and that’s upped the risk for seed potato growers. “If it’s

This photo taken at the Saskatoon CanoLab shows resistant kochia in the front tray and susceptible in the rear.

WGRF funding hunt for glyphosate-resistant kochia in southern Manitoba

A search for glyphosate-resistant kochia in Manitoba will be done this fall thanks to $17,000 in funding from the Western Grains Research Foundation (WGRF). WGRF executive director Garth Patterson confirmed the funding in an interview May 6. Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada’s Hugh Beckie, a world leader in herbicide-resistant weed surveys, will work with officials from