Common chickweed, one of the winter weeds to watch for.

The new year is a good time to start fresh, ready for the growing season ahead. There’s one thing that never hits the reset button though – weeds. Winter weeds, such as marestail, common chickweed and field pennycress, can sour your planting if left untended, and they are on the rise due to reduced tillage and weather-delayed herbicide applications last year.

Weeds create management challenges as well. Planting delays are commonly associated with weed infestations, as growers will need to clean up dirty fields to prepare them for planting. Weeds also create a ripe environment for diseases, nematodes and insects to thrive, which means more work throughout the season to protect crops. Because weeds germinate quickly and spread exponentially, allowing weeds to remain in your field contributes to the weed seed bank for future seasons.

Fortunately, there are several proven strategies to help you manage winter weeds and avoid these long-term problems.

1. Mix it up. Crop rotation reduces the likelihood that specific weed species will adapt to the system, while aggressive tillage operations bury weed seeds, thwarting germination and emergence.
2. Start the season clean. A spring burndown program provides effective weed control to prepare the field for planting, giving crops a strong start.
3. Keep winter weeds from taking hold. A fall application of a preemergence herbicide targets winter annuals at their most vulnerable growth stage and protects fields through the winter.
4. Know your enemy. Scouting during harvest and identifying the troublesome weeds in your fields will provide a head start on combatting them next season, especially if your operation is no-till.

Your Syngenta Herbicide Solution

We recommend a burndown application of Gramoxone® SL 3.0 herbicide to help manage winter weeds in both corn and soybeans. With fast-acting results in as little as 48 hours, Gramoxone SL 3.0 delivers convenient, flexible and dependable burndown of emerged grass and broadleaf weeds, making it a great option for both spring and fall burndown. With Gramoxone SL 3.0 in your fields, weeds won’t have a chance to take hold and stand in your way of timely planting.

Visit ResistanceFighter.com to use our soybean herbicide program planning tool to find the soybean herbicides that fit with your trait platform.

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