Water Shortage Threat & Weed Control
Water Shortage Threat & Weed Control
I’m Lacy Gray with Washington Ag Today.
A 65 foot-long crack along the bottom of one of the Wanapum Dam’s piers has prompted a 26 foot drawdown of reservoirs, and could cause irrigators and well users along 58 miles of the Columbia River water supply problems. Three teams of engineers are using ground-penetrating radar and echo-imaging technology to determine the extent of the damage and how it can be repaired; possibilities of raising the reservoir during restoration are also being examined. Ecology is encouraging water users near the dam to report any problems they may be having accessing water, and wants to assure them that the agency is exploring ways to remedy water supply concerns. Grant County residents should call 509-329-3400. Chelan, Douglas and Kittitas County residents should call 509-575-2490.
With spring comes the need for weed control. WSU extension agent Tim Smith has been fighting weeds in orchards for 32 years and says that herbicides are often applied in combinations of residuals and contacts in the late fall or early spring, and that these combinations are usually of products that cover the others' weaknesses.
SMITH: Over the years we have done quite a bit of spring versus fall applications with sustained products and rates and compared the outcome. 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 he can’t stress enough the importance of taking the time to set up and check the mechanics of your weed sprayer.
SMITH: Herbicides only work as well as you put them on. It can be 100% effective, but if you’re 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.
That’s Washington Ag Today.
I’m Lacy Gray on the Ag Information Network.