ADVANCED FOOD PLOTTING
State-of-the-art tips and techniques for high-level land managers
■ by Joyce Allison Tredaway – Agronomist and Weed Scientist
EARLY POST-EMERGENCE WEED CONTROL: CONTROLLING BROADLEAF WEEDS AND GRASSES Modern herbicides are extremely effective, but it pays to remember that the early bird gets the weed.
W
hen I was growing up, my daddy wouldn’t let me sleep in on Saturdays or summer mornings. He would come into my room and sing Irving Berlin’s “Oh, How I Hate to Get Up in the Morning.” If you’re not familiar with that song, a soldier wants to murder the bugler because he hates to get up in the morning. If he murders the bugler, he can spend the rest of his life in bed. My father would say I was burnin’ daylight, sleeping my life away, ■ Here’s the size of pigweed and that the early bird gets the worm. As I have gotten when Slay should be applied early post-emergence for older, I see that he was correct and that this princieffective control. ple applies to many aspects in life. From saving for retirement early in your career to being the first out in the morning for a deer hunt, there are many Broadleaf Weed ContrOL advantages to being early. The same holds true for Slay is a very effective broadleaf herbicide that early post-emergence weed control. provides residual or soil activity as well as foliar activity. The key to using Slay is applying it at As you prepare for spring, weed control is one of the proper time. Emerged broadleaf weeds must the most important considerations you shouldn’t be 4 inches or smaller when Slay is applied. overlook. Weeds can be deceiving. Your food That small window of application is critical plot might look immaculate, but a month latto success. Slay is an excellent herbicide, but er, it’s covered in weeds. That’s because weeds it was developed for early post-emergence were designed to outcompete crops. The seeds HERBICIDE herbicide applications. It was not designed can lie dormant for years, and a cold event, to spray large weeds. You also must wait unstorm (tornado or hurricane) or an unusu■ Selective broadleaf herbicide. til your clover or alfalfa is in the first trifoally warm winter can make them emerge. I ■ Four ounces treats 1 acre, liate stage before spraying Slay. That means can’t count the times I’ve received a call from one pint treats 4 acres. you’re watching for a window of opportunisomeone who has been on a property for 30 to ■ Slay is field-tested and proven ty for small weeds, and that window must 40 years and has never seen a weed, but weeds effective for controlling broadleaf also include the correct clover height and have suddenly taken over their land. weeds in clover or alfalfa fields. growth. Food plotters have some tools to defeat Slay can be easily applied with a many annual broadleaf weeds and grasses. Because Slay has soil residual activity, it four-wheeler or tractor sprayer. UsKnowing how to use those tools is critical to ing the right herbicide can eliminate will prevent broadleaf weeds and some grasssuccess. Broadleaf weeds must be treated dif- the need for replanting as frequently es from emerging. That’s a strength many ferently than grasses. That’s the first step in and ensure that your food plots have don’t realize. It controls small weeds that maximum longevity. controlling them. have emerged and continues to work with its We often think of post-emergence applicapre-emergence properties. That provides extions when we see large weeds. That mindset tended weed control for longer in the season. has increased dramatically with nonselective A crop oil such as Sure-Fire should always be herbicides, such as glyphosate. However, I included with Slay applications. want to change that narrative to spraying earSlay has activity on many annual broadly post-emergence herbicides when weeds are leaf weeds, such as common lambsquarters, extremely small. common ragweed, pigweeds, smartweeds
SLAY
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