The 2019 crop year is in the books for rice producers, and it’s time to move on to 2020. With that in mind, we’ve asked Jason Bond, Mississippi State University Extension weed scientist, to weigh in on the off-season practices he recommends growers accomplish before the 2020 planting season begins.
Among the steps you can take now to improve weed control in 2020 are to:
- Develop a weed management plan. Before the season starts, have a plan in place to control historically problem weeds as well as emerging threats. Incorporate several modes of action into your herbicide program to minimize resistance issues.
- Build a plan with built-in flexibility. Because planting season doesn’t always go as planned, build in the adaptability to handle various weather events and environmental conditions that may be out of your control.
- Start clean. Bond stresses the importance of making a preplant/preemergence herbicide treatment to control grasses and weeds. Starting the season with a clean seedbed decreases seedling competition for water, nutrients and sunlight.