Snow still lies in shady parts of the field, but it’s not too early for Lorne Enright to get his sprayer ready for spring.
When Enright, a custom sprayer, parked his sprayer last fall it worked fine. But the Rosalind, Alta., farmer has been busy making sure all is ready for the rush of farmers who want a pre-seed burn off of weeds.
“I want to make sure everything is working,” said Enright, who estimates he will custom spray about 5,000 acres this spring.
When the fields are a little drier, he’ll fill the sprayer with water and take it into a field to check for leaks that may have sprung over winter.
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In the past week, his water truck and trailer have been recertified. He has taken a day-long sprayer safety course put on by Agricore United and is finalizing his third party spraying contract with AU’s Rosalind Agro Centre.
His new hired hand is writing his pesticide applicator course, fat flotation tires were remounted on his John Deere sprayer and a new auto steer system, run by a global positioning system, was added.
When fields are dry, he will be ready.
Brian Storozynsky, a project manager with Alberta Agriculture’s Agtech Centre in Lethbridge, said spray drift is a problem with glyphosate products traditionally used in spring.
Storozynsky recommends air induction or venturri nozzles to reduce drift.
Depending on the nozzle, the air induction system can reduce drift by 35 to 90 percent over traditional low drift tips.
The air induction nozzles produce fatter droplets. While there have been no studies, Storozynsky thinks the combination of air induction nozzles and spray shrouds would virtually eliminate drift.
There is no “one size fits all” spray nozzle, said Tom Wolf, an Agriculture Canada research scientist in Saskatoon.
Wolf recommends farmers have at least four types of nozzles to ensure the best coverage in various conditions.
“Most people would prefer to stick to one nozzle,” said Wolf, but he recommends farmers have at least two sets for pre-spring burnoff and another two for in-crop spraying.
The combination of sprayers that travel at high speed, the move to less water mixed with the chemical and new spray nozzles that produce coarser droplet size, all work to reduce weed control.
“We’re getting to a point where we’re not getting as many drops per square inch as we maybe should have and coverage and efficacy can be compromised,” said Wolf.
While coarser droplets don’t drift, they also don’t provide solid coverage. Some nozzles produce a finer droplet to ensure better coverage with less water, but are more liable to drift.
“The issues are when you start to reduce water volume you still have to make sure there is enough spray to cover the small emerging weeds,” he said.
“If you’re prepared to go to higher carrier volume, you can use coarser droplets. At low carrier volumes you can’t use coarse spray volume or you will lose coverage,” he said.
“The message I leave with farmers is: drive as slow as you can afford to drive. You will do a better job, you will reduce drift, you will have less dust and ultimately have better coverage of weeds.”
Westco manager Denise Maurice said farmers are no longer able to pick a simple solution to fix their weed problems.
Farmers need to weigh label rates, tank mixes, traditional weeds, weeds gaining prominence on zero tillage farms, weeds introduced in imported hay or feed and the development of herbicide resistant weeds.
“Life is getting more complicated,” said Maurice, who is based in Calgary.
The best way to simplify the options is to walk the fields early in the spring to know what weeds are already growing.
Farmers will likely find actively growing winter annual weeds in the rosette stage that will take off when the temperature climbs. The rate of glyphosate needed to kill the weed is determined by the stage of the weed.
Narrow leafed hawksbeard, which has increased in numbers with the adoption of zero tillage, isn’t killed by a half litre per acre rate of glyphosate. It needs at least three-quarters of a L.
The amount of glyphosate to knock back kochia, dandelions and quackgrass also depends on the stage of the weed.
“You’ve got to go out and walk the field. That assessment is critical,” she said.
Not only are the number and types of weeds in the field critical to assess, the stage of development is important.
Stork’s bill and cleavers grow well in cool spring temperatures. If producers are planning to grow canola, the herbicide should be sprayed when it is the most beneficial to kill cleavers.
Farmers should be diligent to ensure stork’s bill is kept under control before it gets a foothold in the field, Maurice said.
With last year’s dry spring and sporadic weed growth there was little pre-seed burnoff, but Maurice said it’s an economical option farmers should seriously consider.
“Pre-seed burnoff is really an economical weed control.”
Farmers can control the new herbicide tolerant weeds with the new registered tank mixes. MCPA, Buctril M and 2,4-D can now be added to glyphosate to control weeds such as volunteer herbicide tolerant canola that aren’t killed by glyphosate alone.
Maurice said farmers need to account for the herbicide group and their in-crop sprays when choosing a pre-seed burnoff.
Late fall rains may have increased the amount of winter annuals farmers see this spring, said Keith Topinka, a weed management specialist with Alberta Agriculture.
“Some areas may have more winter annuals than normal,” he said.
Farmers may also see more dandelions than normal, which aren’t easy to kill.
Even though the label says it’s OK to seed the day following the spray, Topinka recommended that farmers not seed for several days to ensure the hard-to-kill dandelions are controlled.
Topinka believes the combination of canola left in the swath over winter and the dry weather last summer may increase the amount of volunteer canola this spring.
