[Listen] Tom Hoverstad SROC No Rain and Soil Applied Herbicides

Due to the really dry spring there was a lot of concern about how the soil applied group 15 herbicides would perform this year. Many farmers spray the group 15 herbicides over the top of the soil soon after planting. They work the best when you get a rain shortly after application to get them in the soil. The last few years this has worked really week because we have had fairly frequent rains. This spring we went 3 or 4 weeks without rain.

The group 15's are "shoot absorbed" herbicides. That means when the weed seed germinates the herbicide is taken into the shoot before it emerges and the weed is killed. Because of the lack of rainfall the herbicide was still on the soil surface and not in the root zone so it would not be as effective. Now that we have had rain will the group 15's be more effective? Click on the link and listen to Tom's thoughts on herbicide performance in this unusually dry spring.