Weed Management and Cover Crop Field Day at SCAL

May 22, 2018

Amit Jhala - Extension Weed Management Specialist

Roger Elmore - Emeritus Extension Cropping Systems Agronomist

View demonstrations of new technologies and herbicides for weed control in corn, soybeans, and sorghum and effects of cover crops on soil health and pest management at the June 27 Weed Management and Cover Crops Field Day. It will be held at the South Central Ag Lab near Clay Center.

The day begins with registration and rolls at 8 a.m., followed by weed management tours from 8:30 a.m. – noon, and cover crop demonstrations from 1 to 3 p.m. A free lunch will be served.

In addition to the field demonstrations, Jim Specht, University of Nebraska-Lincoln professor emeritus, will presented on “Optimizing Soybean Planting Date, Seeding Rate, and Seeding Depth in Nebraska.”

Tour Details

Tour 1 (8:30 – 10 a.m.): On-Site Demonstration of New Technology/ Herbicides for Weed Control in Soybean

Comparison of Herbicide Programs for Weed Control in Soybean: Unbiased comparison of several herbicide programs of different companies for weed control in Roundup Ready 2 Xtend and Liberty Link soybeans. New herbicides and multiple herbicide-resistant soybean cultivars will be discussed.
What NOT to Do? Considering several herbicide-resistant soybean traits, it is important to know which cultivar you have planted and spray herbicide accordingly. Demonstration plots will be shown to determine if you applied the wrong herbicide.
Soybean Yield and Critical Time for Weed Removal as Influenced by Soil-applied Herbicide: Soybean must be kept weed free early in the season to avoid yield loss due to weed competition. This research project is examining the effects of removing weeds at different soybean growth stages. Soybean yield will be measured for each.
Weed Control and Crop Safety in MGI Soybean: Understand multiple herbicide-resistant soybean and herbicide programs for weed control and crop safety.

Weed Management Field Day in 2017 — Figure 1. Nebraska Extension Weed Management Specialist Amit Jhala describes ongoing research on new technologies and practices at the 2017 Weed Management and Cover Crop Field Day. This year's event offers more research updates on how best to manage challenging weed problems.

Tour 2 (10:15 a.m. – noon): On-Site Demonstration of Herbicides for Weed Control in Corn

Comparison of Herbicide Programs for Weed Control in Corn: Unbiased comparison of several herbicide programs by different companies for weed control in glyphosate plus glufosinate-resistant corn. Several new herbicides in corn will be discussed.
Response of White and Yellow Popcorn Hybrids to Glyphosate, Enlist DUO, or XtendiMax: Nebraska is the number one producer of popcorn in the USA. With commercialization of Xtend soybean and Enlist corn, off-target movement of dicamba, glyphosate, and 2,4-D may injure popcorn. Response of white and yellow popcorn to these herbicides will be demonstrated.
Control of Roundup Ready/LibertyLink Volunteer Corn in Enlist Corn: Volunteer corn is an important weed in corn-soybean cropping systems and in continuous corn, it can be even more of a challenge. This project demonstrates control of volunteer corn in Enlist corn.
Weed Control and Crop Response in INZEN Sorghum: INZEN sorghum is resistant to the ALS-inhibiting herbicide nicosulfuron (Zest). Herbicide programs will be discussed for weed control in INZEN sorghum.

Tour 3 (1-3 p.m.): On-Site Demonstration of Cover Crops

Travel to Location 1 (1 - 1:15 p.m.)
An Overview of the Effects of Cover Crops on weed suppression, pests (particularly wheat stem maggot) and beneficial insects. (1:15 – 2:00 p.m.)
Travel to Location 2 (2:00 - 2:15 p.m.)
Cover Crop Effects on Soil Health, including changes in soil microbial communities and soil physical properties with a focus on cover crop root biomass. (2:15 - 3:00 p.m.)

Registration and Information

Preregister for the field day at https://agronomy.unl.edu/fieldday. CCA credits will be available. For more information contact: Amit Jhala, Extension weeds specialist, at amit.jhala@unl.edu or 402-472-1534 or Roger Elmore at roger.elmore@unl.edu or 402-472-1451.

Download the Weed Management and Cover Crop Field Day brochure and share with a friend.

Location

The South Central Ag Lab is 4.5 miles west of the intersection of Hwy 14 south (to Clay Center) and Hwy 6 or 12.4 miles east of Hastings on Hwy 6. GPS coordinates: 40.57539, -98.13776.