The mild winter and early spring conditions we’ve seen may have implications for this season’s weed and pest control.

Weeds are actively growing in fields much earlier, and this may be particularly problematic in no-till fields. Aggressive management of weeds may be needed.

Reducing The Seed Bank

Fields that will receive pre-plant tillage may actually have an advantage this year because more weed seeds than normal may germinate and emerge prior to cultivation. This may reduce the weed-seed bank and reduce emerging weed pressure later in the cropping season.

We can translate this advantage to no-till by letting weeds germinate and surface, but we’ll need to control them before they start competing for nutrients and moisture. No-tillers may have to move up planting or post-emergence applications to pre-plant applications.

Early-season weed competition can reduce yields quickly, so no-tillers should work with their agronomist to review timing of herbicide applications.

Watch Out For Perennials

In no-till systems, a mild winter likely means more winter annual, biennial and perennial weeds are present because winter survival may be higher than normal.

You may have more perennial weeds than normal, so your first herbicide pass should include a burndown at the correct rate and timing to control perennial and emerging annuals.

Additionally, if spring temperatures remain warmer than normal, these increased weed densities may start growing earlier at a more accelerated growth rate. This likely means there will be more, and larger, weeds to control in no-till systems.

Vince Davis, an Extension weed specialist…