With many parts of South Australia experiencing a dry start, independent Agronomist, Craig Davis talks to us about the challenges with controlling weeds and volunteer crops in his patch.

Regional Update - Craig Davis, Agronomist, South Australia

On this podcast we’re looking at good spraying practice with WA farmer Tim Critch and getting an explainer on Nufarm's new Group G herbicide, Terrad'or.

Back in February and March of 2020 Tim had some summer rain and decided to look at the weeds not the temperature. If the weeds weren’t moisture stressed he kept spraying all day even when it was hot. He had some great results which we’ll get into in this podcast. 

We’ll also be hearing from Nufarm’s André Sabeeney and Mitch Allen about their new product Terrad’or. 

Terrad’or is a new Group G herbicide from Nufarm. This product is best partnered with glyphosate as a knockdown spike or mixed with paraquat for double knock application.

SPRAY APPLICATION MANUAL

The GRDC has published an excellent spraying manual you can access.

This Spray Application GrowNotes™ manual provides information on how various spraying systems and components work, along with those factors that the operator should consider to ensure the sprayer is operating to its full potential.

This manual focuses on issues that will assist in maintaining the accuracy of the sprayer output while improving the efficiency and safety of spraying operations. It contains many useful tips for your spray operations.

The manual includes information on sprayer set-up, including self-propelled sprayers, new tools for determining sprayer outputs, suggestions for assessing spray coverage in the field, improving droplet capture by the target, drift-reducing equipment and techniques, the effects of adjuvant and nozzle type on drift potential, and surface temperature inversion research.

Get the details here: https://grdc.com.au/resources-and-publications/grownotes/technical-manuals/spray-application-manual?utm_medium=short_url&utm_term=National&utm_content=Spray%20Application%20Manual&utm_source=website&utm_campaign=BGC00003

REGIONAL UPDATE

Our next Regional Update will come out next Monday and is with Research Officer Catherine Borger from the Department of Agriculture and Food Western Australia. 

You can ensure you don’t miss it by subscribing to the podcast on your app of choice. 

NEW CONTENT

Our latest Ask an Expert is "How can I maximise grass weed control using hybrid canola?" 

EPAG Research agronomist, Andrew Ware answers the question and says the results of six years of trial work across the southern growing region with GRDC investment has demonstrated how important crop nutrition and time of sowing are for maximising canola vigour and yield.

Read it here: https://www.weedsmart.org.au/content/how-can-i-maximise-grass-weed-control-using-hybrid-canola/

Also, don’t miss our latest Case Study on Single family, Coonamble NSW. Tony and Sharon Single farm with Tony’s parents John and Mary, south east of Coonamble in northern NSW with views of the Warrumbungle Range.

Across the 4500 ha cropping area at ‘Narratigah’, the weed numbers are low as a result of the Single’s ‘farming moisture’ philosophy, which involves planting whenever there is sufficient subsoil moisture to establish a competitive crop on their heavy clay soils.

Read it here: https://www.weedsmart.org.au/content/single-family-coonamble-nsw/

Benefits of continuous spraying when weeds are small + Terrad'or explainer

Our latest Regional Update looks at a three-year Barley Grass Project which is an investment by GRDC being delivered by the University of Adelaide and DPIRD alongside regional partners.
 
WA Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development research officer Catherine Borger and project participant, Ben Whisson from Consult Ag have some interesting preliminary results to share with us.

Barley Project

Learn more about the project described in the podcast here: https://www.agric.wa.gov.au/news/media-releases/grower-groups-collaborate-wage-war-barley-grass

Weed Seed Wizard

Check out the Weed Seed Wizard tool here: https://www.agric.wa.gov.au/weed-seed-wizard/weed-seed-wizard-download-and-help

Barley RIM decision making tool: https://ahri.uwa.edu.au/research/barley-grass-rim/

Overview of Barley and Brome RIM: https://grdc.com.au/resources-and-publications/grdc-update-papers/tab-content/grdc-update-papers/2020/02/great-brome-and-barley-grass-modelling-the-long-term-value-of-harvest-weed-seed-control

Regional Update - Catherine Borger and  Ben Whisson, WA

On this edition of the podcast, we’re taking a closer look at chaff decks!

Chaff decks have been a mainstay in the harvest weed seed control space for a number of years, but with weed seed impact mills starting to increase in market share in this space, where will the chaff deck fit?

WeedSmart Southern Extension Agronomist, Greg Condon, who is a big advocate of chaff decks, joins us to give us some answers!

We also hear from Northern Region grower, Chris Berry. He has had a chaff deck for a number of years and while he likes the concept of the mill, is sticking with the chaff deck for now.

Regional Update

Our next Regional Update will come out next Monday and we’ll be hearing from Norther Region expert, Tim Bartimote. Tim is a Senior Land Services Officer in the Cropping division for NSW Central West Local Land Services. 

Over the last two years, Tim has been working on a chaff decking paddock demonstration project which has GRDC investment. 

New Content

We’ve got great content on the WeedSmart website for you to check!

Make sure you check out our latest Ask an Expert. It looks at how you can maximise grass weed control using hybrid canola. EPAG Research agronomist, Andrew Ware provides the answers. Read it here: https://www.weedsmart.org.au/content/how-can-i-maximise-grass-weed-control-using-hybrid-canola/

Also, don’t miss our latest Case Study on Single family, Coonamble NSW: https://www.weedsmart.org.au/content/single-family-coonamble-nsw/

We also hosted a webinar last week with WeedSmart Southern Extension Agronomist Chris Davey & ICAN’s Mark Congreve. They looked at considerations for pre-emergent herbicides with dry sowing. 

You can watch it here: https://www.weedsmart.org.au/video/considerations-for-pre-emergent-herbicides-with-dry-sowing/

Don’t forget to follow us on Twitter and Facebook and also sign-up for our monthly blog. Sign up for our blog here: https://www.weedsmart.org.au/subscribe/

Why chaff decks are a great  option for harvest weed seed control

On this episode of the Regional Update, we catch up with Tim Bartimote. 

Tim is a Senior Land Services Officer in the Cropping division for NSW Central West Local Land Services. 

Over the last two years, Tim has been working on a chaff decking paddock demonstration project which has GRDC investment. 

Tim provides us with an overview of what this project is all about and gives us a regional update for his region.

Resources

Video on chaff deck project: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QqdJQkkIHb0

GRDC IWM handbook: https://www.lls.nsw.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0008/1218158/IWM2019-handbook-V4-AP.pdf

Weed management options during harvest article: https://www.lls.nsw.gov.au/regions/central-west/articles-and-publications/crop-production/extra-weed-management-options-during-harvest

Regional Update - Tim Bartimote, LLS NSW

On this edition of the podcast, we’re looking at mixing partners for Group Gs, UAN (urea and ammonium nitrate placement effect on weed growth, and fence line weed control by planting lucerne. 

WeedSmart Southern Extension Agronomist, Chris Davey has great practical tips on Group Gs today. 

AHRI’s Dr Mike Ashworth will cover GRDC invested research he’s been leading in the Agronomy space, with some practical information on post-em liquid nitrogen recommendations. 

And finally, the problem of fence line weeds isn’t going away, so in the spirit of the WeedSmart Big 6, our Northern Extension Agronomist Paul McIntosh has a novel solution to plant lucerne to compete with weeds in non-cropped areas.

Related content

Mark Congreve Webinar on Group Gs: https://www.weedsmart.org.au/video/considerations-for-pre-emergent-herbicides-with-dry-sowing/
Chris Preston Webinar on Group Gs: https://www.weedsmart.org.au/video/farmer-questions-answered-on-group-g-herbicides-and-optimum-application-temperature/

New content

Our next Regional Update will come out next Monday and we’ll be hearing Nutrien Agronomist James Challis from the Southern Region. 

If you haven’t listened to our latest update yet, we caught up with Tim Bartimote from NSW Local Land Services who talked about a GRDC invested projected on chaff decks: https://www.weedsmart.org.au/content/central-nsw-growers-investigate-iwm-options/

Ask an Expert

This month Mark Congreve joins us to answer the questions “What impact does dry seeding have on pre-emergent herbicide efficacy?”  Check it out: https://www.weedsmart.org.au/content/what-impact-does-dry-seeding-have-on-pre-emergent-herbicide-efficacy/

WeedSmart Review 

In this edition we look at research from scientists from the Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development, Western Australia. They’ve recently published the results from long-term studies measuring the impact of ameliorating soil acidity on the growth of annual ryegrass in wheat. 

The key finding was that applying and incorporating lime is the best way to increase the pH of acidic soils, but it usually takes several years before a surface lime application has a measurable effect on soil pH at depth. 

Incorporation is the best way to speed up the process and also releases other soil nutrients to boost crop growth. I’ll link this article in the podcast notes!

Check it out here: https://www.weedsmart.org.au/content/remove-the-fetters-from-crops-and-theyll-trample-the-weeds/

Group G tips, lucerne as a fence line weed control tool & N placement effect on weed growth

In this edition of the Regional Update, we’re heading to the Southern Region and catching up with Nutrien Agronomist, James Challis. James is based in Echuca in Victoria.

Regional Update - James Challis, Echuca, Victoria

Welcome to the hub of the WeedSmart Podcast! Each fortnight we'll whip around the cropping regions focusing on weed control and issues which have cropped up (pun intended). Your hosts, Jessica Strauss and Peter Newman will be poking fun at themselves and each other. We look forward to giving you a snappy, informative update from the comfort of your tractor, ute, or wherever you may be on the road or farm.

Producer: Jessica Strauss
Hosts: Jessica Strauss and Peter Newman

Intro music credit for podcasts prior to June 2018: www.bensound.com

WeedSmart

Popular tracks