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Weed control in wet fields can wait until spring, says Extension scientistMissouri With a wet fall nearing its end, many farmers won't be able to get into fields for weed control this season. That might not be a bad thing, said Kevin Bradley, University of Missouri Extension weed scientist. "I believe that farmers should just wait until spring. We're in the middle of a terribly wet season, and what I can see happening is some farmers trying to spray and really tearing their fields to pieces," Bradley said. "What we've seen time and time again is that if a guy can get out there in the early spring with these same products, you get the best of both worlds with winter annual weed control and some impact on early summer annual weeds." The combination of saturated soil and a lagging harvest season has made it difficult for farmers to deal with fall weeds like henbit, purple deadnettle, mustards, pennycress and chickweed that tend to start growing each fall. Encroaching cold weather also presents a hurdle to farmers wanting to spray fields in the coming weeks. Bradley noted that it might not be warm enough for some chemicals to be effective in controlling weeds. "When it starts getting colder and stays cold, it inhibits the effectiveness of spraying something like a glyphosate that kills what is on the ground now," Bradley said. "We need at least a couple days in a row of temperatures greater than 50 degrees to allow the herbicides to translocate and kill the weed. We're losing our window of opportunity." Despite the prospect of fields covered in green weeds with purple flowers next spring, farmers should not panic. "What we've seen in our MU research is that the early spring application is just as good, if not better, for keeping those fields clean," Bradley said.
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