Herbicide resistance can be a big problem. But the good news is that managing herbicide resistance has never been easier. Learn five key management strategies that could make improvements on your farm, plus learn more about the
importance of crop rotation and why knowing your herbicide’s mode of action is key.

Key management strategies

The Mix it Up! strategy involves nothing more than incorporating everyday farming tools in your cropping program to maximize weed control. Here are some key management strategies:

  1. 1Seed competitive varieties and increase seeding rates to enhance a crop's ability to compete more effectively with weeds. Varying seeding dates and decreasing row spacings are other options. Even herbicide-resistant weeds are still susceptible to crop competition for space, moisture, sunlight and nutrients.
  2. 2Plan your fertility program to meet crop requirements, then apply strategically to feed the crop, not weeds. Crops that get a head start on weeds through proper fertility are going to be more competitive.
  3. 3Take a long-term view - several years into the future - of rotating crops and herbicide modes of action to maximize the benefits of your Mix it Up! program. By knowing what crops you intend to seed in a field and which modes of action you have available for weed control in coming years, it is much easier to prevent resistance and/or minimize further development of resistant weeds.
  4. 4Sanitation can minimize the spread of resistant seeds, so try to clean machinery and equipment before moving between fields, especially if you know or suspect resistance is an issue in an area on your farm. Other sanitation tactics include keeping field boundaries weed-free, collecting chaff to remove weed seeds from a field, and composting manure before application to destroy weed seeds.
  5. 5And if tillage is an option, you can run a piece of equipment across an entire field or selectively through a patch of suspicious weed growth to complement your chemical control program. As has been said on many occasions, no weed has ever developed resistance to steel.

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