Hoeing:

A practical option for cereal growers, too

Mechanical weed control is becoming an increasingly popular option among cereal

Hoeing has been common practice for vegetable and sugar beet crops for many years, where the row spacings are naturally wider; today there are many seed drills available which sow at a wider row spacing, making hoeing a practical option for growers, says KRM. The drill needs to have a minimum row spacing of 16cm, although wider still is preferable, and as well as accommodating various row widths

growers.

KRM is able to o er Econet Hoes to work with drills up to 12m wide.

As you would expect, there have also been technological advances on the hoeing machines – the majority of the Econet machines sold by

KRM are SGI, with camera guidance to ensure the hoe follows the rows precisely and they have hydraulicallyraising elements with ‘Section Control’ to automatically raise the elements at the headland which is particularly useful in irregularly shaped elds.

One key bene t of hoeing is the ability to destroy resistant weeds and those which are closely related to the crop being grown that can be di cult to target with chemicals. In addition to removing weeds there are further bene ts of hoeing; these include removing capping and opening up the soil, thus improving aeration and the soil’s ability to hold water; and moving the soil and darkening its colour will cause the soil to warm up more quickly in the spring, resulting in better growth.

Alongside hoeing, there is increased interest in companion cropping, and many customers choose to mount a seeder on the Econet – allowing two operations to be carried out in a single pass. So, while it used to be seen as an organic-only practice, mechanical weeding is growing in popularity across the arable sector. FG

Interest in mechanical weeding has grown significantly over recent years as the legal requirements on crop care chemicals became more stringent and crop resistance to chemicals increases. In addition mechanical weeding meets the demand for reduced chemical use in crop production.

Find Out More at:

PLACEMENT PRO AIR - Accurate Fertiliser Application

Stainless steel metering unit

Galvanised chassis with integral weight frame

High output fan

Multiple outlet options – Front boom or front to rear transfer Garmin GPS rate control

The latest chapter of the weed control programme

A winning combination of actives that make a true difference to the grass-weed programme

BEST IN CLASS

5% more grass-weed control than the next best contender*

DEBUT FOR TCM a superior weed active*