Weed Management

The days of making a single, spring, pre-emergent herbicide application are behind us as we're faced with increased weed-resistance issues, microbial degradation in the soil, shifting climate patterns (longer seasons) and a loss of efficacy with traditional herbicidal chemistries.

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Weeds are opportunistic plants which can adapt to niches in the environment. A paradigm shift needs to be made to move from weed control to weed management, where pre-emergent herbicide applications are complimented with a post-emergent application to manage weeds throughout the growing season effectively. Knowing that a herbicide can eliminate the weed but not the environmental condition that allows it to flourish, any program should involve both a pre-emergent (preventative) and a post-emergent (curative) aspect — much like a fungicide program.

The use of pre-emergent herbicides is the basis of any weed management program. Often turf managers solely rely on this one pre-emergent application for their weed control management program or multiple pre-emergent applications. However, even the best pre-emergent herbicides often don't provide complete season-long control, which leaves a less-than-desirable result.

Repeated applications with the same mode of action eventually lead to herbicide resistance issues with various active ingredients and leave applicators with gaps in their program. To mitigate the risk of herbicide resistance, it is important to rotate the mode of action of the herbicides you're applying.