Dirk Vandenhirtz, CEO and founder, left, and Darrell Bailey, North American business development lead with Crop.zone.  Photo: John Greig

Agritechnica update: Give a big shock to weeds

Farmers are being pushed to find an alternative to desiccants to burn down crops, as companies are increasingly leery of herbicides approved close to harvest. People have been shocking weeds with electricity for 100 years, but the return on the electricity invested and the technology required to do so safely haven’t always worked. Crop.zone is

Kochia is among the weeds that should be on farmers’ radar this fall.

Early harvest opens options for fall weed control

Spraying tips to use once the combine is parked

[UPDATED: Oct. 11, 2023] An early harvest gives farmers the opportunity to get ahead of weeds for next season, says Manitoba Agriculture weed specialist Kim Brown. Weeds have had ample time to grow after harvest, making them prime targets for herbicide. Why it matters: As harvest winds down, attention turns to field preparation for 2024.

File photo of palmer amaranth — the taller yellowish plants — infesting a U.S. cotton field. (Photo courtesy ARS/USDA)

Palmer amaranth pops back up in Ontario

Weed infamous in U.S. for multiple herbicide resistances

A single plant that showed up this summer on the edge of a southwestern Ontario cornfield is cause for concern among Canadian farmers, weed specialists warn. Writing Monday in the ag ministry’s Field Crop News, Ontario provincial weed management specialist Mike Cowbrough said the plant in question, found in Wellington County, is confirmed as palmer


Waterhemp peeks out among soybeans.

Waterhemp on the rise

Manitoba’s list of affected municipalities keeps growing

Manitoba’s ag sector is trying to hold the line against big yield-killing threats like waterhemp and Palmer amaranth. Unfortunately, the number of municipalities where waterhemp has been found just grew by two. “Waterhemp and Palmer amaranth are Tier 1 weeds regulated under the Noxious Weeds Act. They must be destroyed when they’re found,” said Manitoba Agriculture weed extension specialist Kim

Photo: Oleksandr Yuchynskyi/iStock/Getty Images


The do’s and don’ts of desiccation

As with all herbicide applications, follow the label, especially on application timing

It is time to think about desiccation and pre-harvest weed control. “We’ve had some really good, hot weather for harvesting, so it really hasn’t been a year that we’ve had to talk much about pre-harvest desiccation or pre-harvest weed management,” provincial weed extension specialist Kim Brown-Livingston says. “But the harvest has just begun, and we’ve

Neale Heinrich stands in front of the Redekop Seed Control Unit at its booth at Ag in Motion on July 18, 2023. (Braedyn Wozniak photo)

At Ag in Motion: Herbicide resistance fight needs integrated seed management

'Those seedlings we don’t manage to kill (are) probably the most herbicide-resistant'

Harvest weed-seed control takes aim at reducing herbicide-resistant weeds that western Canadian farmers find more and more every year. At the Ag in Motion outdoor farm show this week, field residue management manufacturer Redekop won the Innovations Award for Environmental Sustainability for its harvest Seed Control Unit, which destroys more than 95 per cent of


Originally a tow-behind unit that attached to the back of the combine, the newer iteration of the Harrington Seed Destructor is a mill that can be integrated with the combine. (Photo: deBruin Engineering Pty Ltd.)

At Ag in Motion: Harvest weed control still in the mix

'You’re not going to spray your way out of this'

It’s a relatively new solution to the age-old problem of trying to get rid of weeds without broadcasting the seed or using increasingly less effective herbicides — mechanical separation and pulverization of weed seed. Harvest weed seed control might not be a golden bullet to tackle glyphosate-, fluroxypyr- and dicamba-resistant weeds, but according to Agriculture

Is the water in your sprayer neutering your herbicide?

Is the water in your sprayer neutering your herbicide?

Calcium, magnesium, sodium, iron and potassium cations in sprayer water will bond with herbicide molecules, such as glyphosate, making them ineffective

Clint Jurke had never, not once, tested the quality of his sprayer water until a colleague said it would make a good topic for an article. “I like to think I’m pretty good at agronomy,” said Jurke, agronomy director for the Canola Council of Canada and farmer from Lloydminster, Sask. “I scout, follow labels’ rates,