Weeds Gone Wild (Culpepper). Loss of in-crop dicamba, ESA challenges, crop injury from foliar tank mixtures, antagonism from tank mixes, challenging weather conditions, goosegrass, nutsedge, spiderwort, and, of course, Palmer amaranth are teaming up to make what used to be a simple weed management program into an extremely complicated, expensive, and time-consuming nightmare. This newsletter is meant to provide a few updates and potential weed control pointers for finishing out the season for Extension agents, consultants, and farmers.
In-crop dicamba: The lack of in-crop dicamba for 2025 has been monumentally problematic especially when considering our weather. Our data and your experience both document the importance of having this tool available. Thus, massive efforts are underway by your ag stakeholders, manufacturers, and our regulatory partners to bring forward a new label. I am not about to guess a time frame, but there seems to be a chance for 2026 if these groups could just work together, putting science and our farmers at the forefront of the discussion. I do wonder, at least today, if the eventual label will allow for effective and sustainable weed control programs without having overly burdensome restrictions that farmers simply can’t follow.
ESA (Endangered Species Act): As much as we have talked about ESA over the past three years, hopefully you are somewhat knowledgeable regarding the initial threat regulations from this act posed on the ability of our family farms to survive. Those of you whom filled out surveys this past winter have directly and positively influenced the trajectory of OUR future as we work diligently to help the U.S. EPA protect BOTH endangered/threatened species and our family farms. After getting this year’s crop out, we will again turn our focus to helping you understand runoff/erosion mitigation points/measures requirements, downwind drift buffers, BLT, and PULA’s that will be impacting nearly every pesticide… come to the dang meetings so you know what’s going on and can help us address these challenges!!!
Goosegrass: What a nightmare; this pest is spreading rapidly and mixtures of Roundup + dicamba (in the past), Roundup + Liberty, and Liberty are doing nothing but helping this pest spread like a wildfire. Starting with effective residuals before goosegrass emerges and then overlapping those residuals is something you must figure out to be successful. Roundup + Select is likely your best option if you are fighting an emerged population (sequential applications may be needed and you still might not kill it); adding Liberty in with this mix is not a good idea and don’t spray any other herbicide within 3 days of this application!!
Nutsedge. The weed that will just not die is further complicating matters as it provides an invitation for your local hog community to feast in your field. Overtop options are limited to Roundup and Envoke but these alone will likely not be good enough. I can already hear the grumbling, but you must get the layby rig or hooded sprayers out and go after the nutsedge “spots”. Direx + MSMA + Envoke + Crop Oil is extremely effective with a second slightly less effective option being Roundup + Direx + Envoke (although this mix is not quite as good on nutsedge it is more effective on annual grasses).
Spiderwort. As far as management, there is nothing new. As far as spread, this weed is on the war path like nutsedge. For control of emerged plants with overtop herbicide options, 2,4-D choline (Enlist One) is extremely effective in tolerant cotton but after that the next best option is likely Roundup + Staple. If you really want to control this weed, yep again it is all about starting clean following the management concept of overlapping effective residuals throughout the season and then finishing the season with a layby treatment. The layby application is essential because this pest will emerge after cotton row closure building the seedbank for next season. Diuron + MSMA + either Dual Magnum, Warrant, or Outlook would be the most effective option followed by Roundup + Diuron + either Dual Magnum, Warrant, or Outlook. Remember Liberty is no good and Diuron mixtures are King for spiderwort!
Palmer Amaranth. Hard to believe that we are 24 years into battling glyphosate-resistant Palmer amaranth across Georgia. Many of you are winning the war but because of not having an in-crop dicamba coupled with heavy rains you might not be winning the battle in some fields currently. Many of you have achieved excellent control with Liberty when you have been timely; those of us, including me, that were late getting to the field because of massive rain events in early June are likely seeing escapes. I know it’s tough to spend any money but try to get out there and pull those escapes so you don’t destroy all of your hard work over the past two decades reducing those seed bank levels… don’t forget, a female plant competing with cotton for the entire season can produce in excess of 500,000 seeds per plant.