According to your program conditions

After graduating, I worked for about 12 years in a vegetable seed company, then moved into the field of fertilizers and chemicals and became an advisor on pest control. I have worked at Helena Agri- Enterprises for 13 years, and 2022 will be my 16th year as a PCA.

Water availability affects weed control strategy

The main lesson I learned last season was to climb weeds early. We are seeing greater resistance to herbicides and cannot control water availability and weather, so we need to be prepared to fight them when they occur. Another lesson is not to skip the use of herbicides. We need to work hard to do that.

The Grandstand® CA Herbicide is always in a 6- to 8-ounce offer tank to control rice weeds. In 2021, the heart really competed with the harvest. It was hard for us to take this under control in the early stages. Other problematic weeds were sedge, umbrella plant and aquatic grass. If you use products such as Clincher® CA herbicide and RebelEX® CA herbicide, we usually flood the field, drain the water, wait 10 days until the rice reaches the right stage to make the soil, and then flood again.

Last year we got as much water as we wanted, but the ditches were lower and the amount of water coming into the field was less. The farmers of the district were not given water for the second flood, so these products were not candidates for this type of cultural system. We had enough water to charge the crop, but not enough to spray the weeds and then add more water. Farmers who had wells were able to flood quickly, so they could still use Clincher CA and RebelEX CA. Granite® SC Herbicide, which is a liquid compound, can be applied in the middle of the season, so it was a good game to control weeds in 2021.

Water grass control for different scenarios

Granite® GR herbicide is a good product to control water grass if you have warm weather and no scum before the weeds get too big. You don’t want water over the rice when there is scum growing. As we prepare for the Granite GR program, we will be flying a Tracite 5% Copper or a Tracite 4 × 4 at the seedling stage to control algae. Last year the scum grew fast because the temperature was very high. In this situation, another option is to use Granite SC mixed with the proposition.

In the wet year, water grass will start to grow early. Water grass of the first leaf may be present if the seed only gets into the water. You can apply the herbicide Regiment on 4-leaf rice, but most growers apply it to 5-leaf rice at a higher rate. If the rice is larger than 2.5 leaves, you can switch to Granite GR or Granite SC to kill the big grass before it gets out of control. That’s when these products are well suited to the conditions you face.

Although today the problems are more affected than before, I look forward to a happy, successful season and hope that everyone else will too. Be prepared for challenges and keep a positive outlook.