Black-grass management: stacking not just about mixing herbicides
Winter wheat growers facing problems with black-grass shouldn’t just think that ‘stacking’ is all about tank-mixing different herbicides together.
Instead, it should encompass ‘stacking together’ multiple methods of managing the weed, urges Syngenta field technical manager and grass weed expert, Iain Hamilton.
These include cultural methods, chemicals, and the sometimes-overlooked technique of correct spray application – all with the target of achieving more than 97% control to stop populations increasing, he adds.
“There is a lot of talk about ‘stacking’ when it comes to managing black-grass,” explains Mr Hamilton, who highlighted the UK’s increasing black-grass problem at this year’s Cereals Event.
“Clearly, stacking different pre-emergence herbicides together plays an important role. Indeed, we have seen that tank-mixing the herbicide Defy with a flufenacet-based treatment has typically boosted control by 20% in trials. But we are encouraging growers to think much wider than this.
“It should also be thought of as stacking all the other available tools together in appropriate ways – and doing this all through the rotation,” he adds.
Among the cultural strategies to consider, says Mr Hamilton, is to start by re-appraising which crops are included in the rotation, and then opting for crop varieties that are more competitive against the weed.
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