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Time to control henbit--don't let cold weather fool you
By Richard C. Snell Barton County Extension Agent, Agriculture Kansas Despite all the talk about global warming, most of us think it has been freezing cold lately. However, don't let this cold weather fool you. Henbit is lurking in your yard, just waiting to surge out of the ground about the last week of February and start flowering the first of March. Now if you are a K-State fan like me, it may not be that big of a problem to have your entire lawn or wheat field covered with purple flowers. They don't really last that long and they do add some color. This is especially true if you have a warm season grass lawn that is dormant brown right now. On the other hand, those with lawns starting to green up, may want to keep them that way and weed-free. Henbit is a winter annual weed that you can count on showing up every year. It is an early winter annual, even earlier than dandelion. It can emerge in the fall or the spring. It starts flowering before most people have even thought weeds could start growing. It can be a pest in wheat fields as well as lawns and wasteland. So, what do you use to control it? In wheat fields, products such as Finesse, which is a pre-mix of the old Glean and Ally does a great job. Dicamba, which is known as Banvel, Clarity and several generic names, also has good contact activity. At this stage of growth, if you are after henbit, I would use dicamba in a tank mix with Harmony Extra if you are wanting to rotate out of wheat yet this year. If you aren't going to plant another crop this year, Ally and dicamba can be used. If you are going back to wheat this fall, you can go ahead and use Amber, Glean or Finesse. Rave, a pre-mix of Amber and dicamba is great at this time of year, for continuous wheat. You must be aware of cropping restrictions though. In lawns, I really like using Dimension or Barricade as a persistent pre- emergent for most broadleaves and annual grasses. I would tank mix it with dicamba if you are after henbit, which could be already emerged in lawns that were watered last fall. If you want to go a cheaper route, you can use pendimethalin. It won't last as long and you may end up using it twice. If you are wanting pre-emergent grass control as well. It will run out if you put in on this early. The trimec combinations of 2,4-D, (MCPA or MCPP) and dicamba work well over the top. Just realize that it is the dicamba part that gets the henbit. The other two ingredients will get other weeds. Most of these come in fancy names like Ortho Weed- B-Gone or Scotts Lawn Weed Control. In cooler weather, I prefer liquids as opposed to granular products, although both can be effective. Sometimes it is hard to find Barricade without fertilizer in combination but it can be done. The active ingredient for Barricade is prodiamine. It seems that Dimension (dithiopyris) is marketed more to commercial applicators. Another thing I like about the Barricade and Dimension, in addition to their longevity is that they can be used on buffalo grass and other warm season grasses. Many contact herbicides are a no-no on warm season grasses that are greening up and buffalo grass is especially tender. One other herbicide treatment that I haven't mentioned is reserved strictly for dormant warm season lawns. This would include buffalo grass, Bermuda grass and zoysia. You can use Roundup (glyphosate) to spray cool season weeds prior to about March 15 in central Kansas. After that, you run risk of injuring or killing the grass. The bottom line take home message here is - don't wait until you see purple to spray, by then it is too late. When it comes to henbit, do it now or don't do it at all. B 12 2/26/07 2 Star EK Date: 2/20/07
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