Weed Control In Carrots

Successful carrot producers mechanise their operations to reduce labour to the minimum.

- Bill Kerr

 This cuts cost and makes management far easier. Ideally, a farmer needs to get weed control to the point where no labour is used for hand weeding. This is possible by using the correct weedkillers and getting the timing right.

Linuron is the most popular herbicide for carrots. But it has shortcomings. If you have grass weeds such as African goosegrass (Eleusine africana) and sweet grass (Panicum laevifolium) on your land, you may run into trouble if you use linuron only during summer.

Linuron works better on broadleaf weeds than grass weeds. In some cases, fastgrowing grass weeds may reach a stage where the linuron simply scorches them.

Goosegrass presents another problem: it has an extensive root system, so when it is pulled out, it takes many carrots with it.