42 It’s Farming. And It’s Better. Better Farming | January 2025 Mike’s work found that, based on two trials, the higher labelled rate of Engenia, 2,4-D Ester 700, MCPA Ester 600, and Lontrel resulted in higher visual control. Applications made later (early June) to larger burdock did not appear to negatively affect control with 2,4-D Ester or MCPA Ester. Mike concluded that a fall application with Express SG plus adjuvant followed by a spring application with either 2,4-D Ester or MCPA Ester would be the most economical program to manage common burdock in pastures. One of the reasons that burdock is a problem in no-till fields is because of no tillage. From my experience, moldboard plowing effectively controls burdock. Tillage has an effect on other perennial weeds. Now before you say, “Lynch is always going on about the benefits of tillage,” in my defence, I do this because a lot of people are on the no-till and conservation tillage bandwagon. If a lot of people were talking about tillage, I would spend more time talking about no-till. I was part of the working group from Huron County led by Don Lobb that started a big push for no-till in the early 1980s. But tillage is an effective way to control weeds. From the time that man first used a stick to remove weeds, to the period of the first plow, and now with better tillage equipment, farmers have used tillage to control weeds. On small farms in developing countries, iron in the form of a hoe is the main method of weed control. As my CCA cohort Merv Erb said years ago, “I have yet to find a weed resistant to iron.” Here is an aside. In the 1970s, the manufacturers of the herbicide Eptam had on their label that Eptam controlled twitch grass. Rudy Brown, a former researcher at Ridgetown College in Ridgetown, challenged that label claim because Eptam did not control twitch grass in his trials. The manufacturers responded that for Eptam to control twitch grass, you would have to cut the rhizomes into small pieces. So, Rudy put out plots, tilling the plots to cut the rhizomes into small pieces. He also had a treatment where no herbicide was applied for twitch grass control, but tillage was used. At the end of the season, where tillage cut the rhizomes into small pieces and Eptam was applied, the twitch grass was controlled, but not statistically better than where he cut the twitch grass into small pieces and Eptam was not applied. Since then, a lot of research has gone into this issue. Here is what the label says now: For the control of quackgrass, the disc must be set to cut 15 cm deep and the higher rates (seven to 8.5 litres per hectare) of EPTAM LIQUID EC HERBICIDE must be used. The underground rhizomes of quackgrass must be cut up thoroughly so that four or fewer nodes remain on a strand. Point being is that tillage helps control quackgrass and, I believe, other perennial weeds. As you reduce tillage, you become more dependent on herbicides. So, what is in the future that was tried this year? John Deere has a full-sized sprayer that is equipped with cameras that see the weeds and, with a nozzle, sprays each weed. This will be great for touching up weed control or spraying nuisance patches of perennial weeds. The robots to control weeds were working this year. These robots are designed to see weeds and then pull the weeds. Each robot only does one row. The vision is that you would have numerous robots in a field hand-picking weeds. Right now, they are being used in horticulture crops. Weed control by electrocution is working well in many fields. This tractor-driven unit powers a generator that generates enough electricity to zap weeds. It works quite well when weeds are taller than the crop. So, there you have it – a bit of a journey down memory lane, but we need to understand our past to go forward. We don’t need to make the same mistakes with new technology. Work smarter, not harder. BF crops: the lynch fileS Continuous use of the same group of herbicides leads to resistance. Patrick Lynch photo PATRICK LYNCH Patrick writes a weekly crop production newsletter and is a popular speaker at farm meetings. He has been a regular contributor to Better Farming magazine since its launch in 1999. Member of the Ontario Agricultural Hall of Fame. Opinionated, controversial; formerly with OMAFRA and Cargill. CCA-ON.
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