Pigweed a Big Problem for Sunflower Producers

Weed control is a standard in farming but managing weeds and sunflowers has become increasingly crucial due to pigweed. CWeed control is a standard in farming but managing weeds and sunflowers has become increasingly crucial due to pigweed. Calvin Trostle is an agronomy professor with Texas A&M AgriLife Extension in Lubbock, Texas.

“When I started this job in 1999. Yes, we had pigweed. It was a modest issue for a lot of farmers. But now it's a horrible issue. Why do we have so much more pigweed now than we had 20 and 25 years ago? Well, it comes down to a couple of things. One is farmers relied so heavily on roundup for all their weed control that we now have Roundup Ready resistant, we have roundup resistant.”

Trostle says weed control for sunflowers has been developing beyond just herbicide and management and instead is being looked at as more of a systems approach.

“We're starting to receive some proposals that are more than simply identifying what we do have, what are your weed control options in terms of a herbicide that you would put down, that would prevent weed development in the first place? Or if these weeds evolve in your standing crop and what are some options to control? And so that remains the gist of weed control. But I think we're starting to see that there's more thinking beyond just the herbicides and the crop you grow, but looking at weed control as a system.”

Agronomy Professor at Texas A&M AgriLife Extension, Calvin Trostle.

“When I started this job in 1999. Yes, we had pigweed. It was a modest issue for a lot of farmers. But now it's a horrible issue. Why do we have so much more pigweed now than we had 20 and 25 years ago? Well, it comes down to a couple of things. One is farmers relied so heavily on roundup for all their weed control that we now have Roundup Ready resistant, we have roundup resistant.”

Trostle says weed control for sunflowers has been developing beyond just herbicide and management and instead is being looked at as more of a systems approach.

“We're starting to receive some proposals that are more than simply identifying what we do have, what are your weed control options in terms of a herbicide that you would put down, that would prevent weed development in the first place? Or if these weeds evolve in your standing crop and what are some options to control? And so that remains the gist of weed control. But I think we're starting to see that there's more thinking beyond just the herbicides and the crop you grow, but looking at weed control as a system.”

Agronomy Professor at Texas A&M AgriLife Extension, Calvin Trostle.