2019 fall farm

Page 28 2019 Logan County Farm Outlook Magazine Lincoln Daily News Nov. 1, 2019 In June, Hager said that we may not notice the poor performance of these herbicides, since water hemp is constantly germinating. “When a weed pops up mid-season, it’s hard to tell exactly when it emerged and whether it was exposed to residual soil-applied herbicides,” says Hager. “As we get into the era of metabolic resistance, our predictability is virtually zero. We have no idea what these populations are resistant to until we get them under controlled conditions,” Hager says in the report. As for why these problems have come up this year, Eric Gordon pointed to the late start for crop planting this year, much like other experts have stated. “I think most all was weather related…timing plays a key role in control. We did not get the crop canopy as early as we typically do allowing for added pressure,” said Gordon. Gordon echoed reports that certain weeds have developed resistances to herbicides. However, this is also something that happens every year, so it is not the sole cause for problems regarding current weeds in fields. As for diseases, a document published by the University in early October discusses findings on tar spot in the fields. The report states that “tar spot has made annual appearances in Illinois since its initial detection in 2015.” Last year, the right conditions that favored disease development allowed tar spot to grow well before the crop matured. Many farmers in the state saw losses in recent year because of tar spot. “To add further insult to injury, the conditions that favored tar spot also favored other, more commonly encountered diseases including The old adage “Nature abhors a vacuum” was well documented this growing season. Waterhemp and other troublesome weeds filled the gap in low lying patches where crops failed due to ponding and soggy soils. Waterhemp is part of a family of prolific crop weeds in the Amaranthus family known as pigweed. Photo by University of Illinois Continue 8