Unfortunately, large parts of Western Australia, South Australia and Queensland are as dry as a London newspaper! In this podcast, Jessica Strauss chats to Dr David Minkey about spraying stressed weeds in dry conditions. The info comes from GRDC funded research conducted by Dave Minkey and John Moore at DAFWA in the 90s. They set out to determine what factors influence herbicide rate. They looked at moisture stress, relative humidity, temperature, and days since 5mm of rainfall. As you would guess all of these factors had an effect, but it appears that moisture stress had the biggest impact. The rate of glyphosate to kill moisture-stressed wheat was more than 10 times that of wheat growing with adequate moisture.In a dry year, we’re often faced with the whole kit and caboodle – moisture stressed weeds, high temperatures, low relative humidity and long durations between rainfall events. There’s no quick fix, but by understanding the driving factors, it can help us to pick the best time to spray weeds.This research also reminds us that we’re likely to see surviving weeds at harvest, which is why we believe that perhaps this year is the year to adopt chaff lining at harvest.Take a listen to the podcast for a more detailed overview!Music: bensound.com
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