Protect Yields with Clean Fields
Feb 26, 2025
A motivational children’s song declares, “Clean up, clean up, everybody do your share.” Farm fields require a similar commitment to clean-up: every input needs to “do its share,” starting with pre-emerge herbicides.
With increasing numbers of chemical-resistant weeds, “if we are spraying weeds after they are up, it may already be a losing battle,” said Brad Hipsag, Federated agronomy sales rep from the Ogilvie location. And then he echoed an oft-repeated line: “The easiest way to have clean soybean fields is to start clean and stay clean.”
Pre-emerge herbicide applications fall on bare soil, laying down a residual barrier to keeps weeds from ever starting. Weeds that don’t make it out of the ground can’t compete with the soybeans, which means “the beans can capitalize on soil moisture, soil nutrients, and sunlight,” said Hipsag.
However, while every chemical can “do its share,” a pre-emerge herbicide “will not take care of any perennial weeds,” Hipsag said. Thus, a field going into soybeans after any hay crop or fallow ground the previous year – or in any no-till situation – will likely need a good burndown herbicide in combination with the pre-emerge application.
As good as they are, today’s technologically advanced seeds (such as Enlist®, Liberty®, LLGT27™, and ExtendFlex®), still can’t overcome heavy weed pressure. It’s hard to clean up a field once the weeds get a foothold, and post-emerge chemicals can only “do their share.” The combination of strong pre-emerge and burndown (as needed) applications will set the stage for effective post-emerge applications.
Also, as every chemical does its share, “it will help slow the building of herbicide resistant weeds in the future,” said Hipsag.
Talk to your Federated Agronomist to determine which pre-emerge herbicides fit your crop management plans.
With increasing numbers of chemical-resistant weeds, “if we are spraying weeds after they are up, it may already be a losing battle,” said Brad Hipsag, Federated agronomy sales rep from the Ogilvie location. And then he echoed an oft-repeated line: “The easiest way to have clean soybean fields is to start clean and stay clean.”
Pre-emerge herbicide applications fall on bare soil, laying down a residual barrier to keeps weeds from ever starting. Weeds that don’t make it out of the ground can’t compete with the soybeans, which means “the beans can capitalize on soil moisture, soil nutrients, and sunlight,” said Hipsag.
However, while every chemical can “do its share,” a pre-emerge herbicide “will not take care of any perennial weeds,” Hipsag said. Thus, a field going into soybeans after any hay crop or fallow ground the previous year – or in any no-till situation – will likely need a good burndown herbicide in combination with the pre-emerge application.
As good as they are, today’s technologically advanced seeds (such as Enlist®, Liberty®, LLGT27™, and ExtendFlex®), still can’t overcome heavy weed pressure. It’s hard to clean up a field once the weeds get a foothold, and post-emerge chemicals can only “do their share.” The combination of strong pre-emerge and burndown (as needed) applications will set the stage for effective post-emerge applications.
Also, as every chemical does its share, “it will help slow the building of herbicide resistant weeds in the future,” said Hipsag.
Talk to your Federated Agronomist to determine which pre-emerge herbicides fit your crop management plans.