01/07/09 Thinking ahead to weed control in winter wheat

Farm and Ranch January 7, 2009 Moisture to get the winter wheat crop up came late in many areas of the Pacific Northwest this past fall. Along with the winter wheat came grassy weeds like downy brome or jointed goat grass. Al Sartini, Bayer Crop Science representative says those grassy weeds can have a real impact on the wheat crop given moisture deficits in the region. Sartini: "So I think this is a very important time for the growers to take those grassy weeds out come February or March to give their crop an opportunity to fully utilize the moisture we have available." Sartini says Bayer's Olympus is the product to use on these grassy weeds in the low to moderate rainfall areas were planting back broadleafs is not an issue. Sartini: "It is very effective for downy brome, suppresses jointed goat grass, has post-emergent activity on wild oats." For the mid-rainfall zones Sartini says there is Olympus Flex, which has more post emergent effectiveness than Olympus. And for high rainfall areas there is what Sartini calls the top of line grassy weed control product, Osprey. Sartini: "If you are going back into peas or lentils or garbs or canola or whatever it might be, Osprey is the product you want to use if you are going back in that next year." Sartini says Osprey strongly suppresses jointed goat grass, a weed that can not only reduce yields, but bring discounts on wheat. Tomorrow an update n Huskie herbicide. I'm Bob Hoff and that's the Northwest Farm and Ranch Report on the Northwest Ag Information Network.