July 27, 2012

A one-day workshop on flame weeding will be held August 15 at the Haskell Agricultural Laboratory near Concord from 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Concord is located in northeast Nebraska, 50 miles northeast of Norfolk, Neb., and 45 miles west of Sioux City, Iowa.

Propane-fueled flame weeding is an acceptable method of weed control in organic farming. The method is gaining interest among conventional producers as well because of an increase in weed resistance to herbicides and costs of genetically modified crop seeds.

At the workshop, Stevan Knezevic, UNL extension weeds specialist, and George Gogos, UNL professor of mechanical and materials engineering, will present results from six years of research. Their work has been documented in about 20 scientific publications, 100 conference abstracts, and a patent for flaming equipment.

The researchers will cover the basics of flame weeding, including equipment needed. They will present data on propane doses for weed control and crop tolerance, and also demonstrate 4- and 8-row commercial type flamers with patented hoods for broadcast and banded flaming. A demonstration of inter-row cultivation and intra-row flaming combined in a single operation also will be presented.

Workshop participants will get to learn how to do proper flaming to control more than 10 major Midwestern weeds in seven agronomic crops: field corn, sweet corn, popcorn, soybean, sorghum, sunflower, and wheat. Several local organic farmers will be there to share their experience as well. At the end of the workshop there will be a field tour of flame weeding research.

Registration

The workshop is limited to 30 people. Cost is $100 per person. Lunch will be provided.

Partial scholarships are available to certified organic farmers from Nebraska. For more information and to register, contact Pat Bathke at pbathke1@unl.edu.

Jaclyn Tan
IANR Student Newswriter