Use of the Recirculating Sprayer to Control Tall Weed Escapes in Crops

Abstract

Field experiments were conducted with the recirculating sprayer (RCS) at Lincoln, Nebraska from 1974 through 1978. Different spray pressures, spray nozzles, and spray volumes with the RCS showed no significant differences in shattercane [Sorghum bicolor(L.) Moench] control or soybean [Glycine max(L.) Merr.] injury when herbicides were applied at three stages of weed growth. When shattercane was treated in a grain sorghum [Sorghum bicolor(L.) Moench] field, poor weed control and excessive crop injury occurred during treatment at the early growth stage as compared with treatments applied 2 weeks later. The final treatment date gave selective weed control in grain sorghum, but many of the shattercane heads had already developed viable seed. A weed-to-crop height differential of at least 45 cm resulted in maximum weed control with minimum crop injury. Common milkweed (Asclepias syriacaL.) control in soybeans varied considerably, but treatments giving over 80% control were glyphosate [N-(phosphonomethyl)glycine] at 1.1 to 4.5 kg/ha applied through the RCS. Other herbicides were less effective. Volunteer corn (Zea maysL.) was controlled selectively at 75 to 100% in soybeans with glyphosate or paraquat (1,1′-dimethyl-4,4′-bipyridinium ion) when applied through the RCS. Shattercane was controlled 95 to 100% in soybeans with glyphosate at 3.4 kg/ha. Unless spray drift and splash can be prevented when using the RCS, glyphosate and paraquat will not give selective control when applied to weeds growing in grain sorghum. Glyphosate applied through the RCS, however, can be a selective method of controlling weed escapes in soybeans because soybeans are not as sensitive to glyphosate as is sorghum.