Weed Management

Spring is on the way and with it will come weeds. WSU Extension agent, Tim Smith has been chasing weeds for 32 years and wanted to look at the differences in spray efficacy between fall and spring applications.

SMITH: Over the years we have done quite a bit of spring versus fall applications with sustained products and rates and compared the outcome. I've kind of come to a change in my mind. For years there we rarely got a new herbicide but over the past 10 years there's been a number of new choices that have come along. I have yet to find a perfect herbicide. They all have problems so we have to look to see what will cover each other.

Smith says an important key to efficient spraying is the coverage of your sprayer.

SMITH: We need to pay more attention to this because the herbicides only work as well as you put them on. It can be 100% effective but if you are putting 50% of the rate on in a strip down the middle of your row or over on the edge, all of this new technology won't work. It certainly won't work as well as you spent the money to get.

So back to the question of spring spraying versus fall.

SMITH: I've always said fall. But I think my goal was to find the perfect time and the perfect product and rate to put as few applications as possible on and I can't get fewer than two.

And on Monday we'll talk more with Tim Smith about why he has changed his mind.

That's today's Fruit Grower Report. I'm Greg Martin on the Ag Information Network.