RED DEER, Alta. (Staff) – John O’Donovan has worked on integrated weed control for the past 12 years at the Alberta Environment Centre at Vegreville, Alta.
Here are his tips to help a crop get the jump on weeds:
- Plant good quality, vigorous seed.
- Plant competitive crops.
- Promote early emergence.
- Establish a good crop stand, which may require higher than recommended seeding rates.
- Manipulate fertilizer rate and placement to favor the crop; banding, for example.
- Use appropriate crop rotations
- Use herbicides strategically, paying attention to economic thresholds. “Spray only when necessary,” he said. “If you’ve got a good stand, good emergence and a light infestation, is it necessary?”
Read Also
Crop estimates show mixed results
Model-based estimates used by Statistics Canada showed the 2025/26 crop year has seen increases in canola, corn for grain, oats and lentils production while seeing dips in spring wheat, durum wheat, soybeans and barley in comparison to 2024/25.
Some of 0’Donovan’s research illustrates how these practices can affect yield. If wild oats emerge five days before a wheat crop, yield loss is 19 percent (17 percent in barley). If both wild oats and the crop emerge on the same day, yield losses in wheat are 11 percent (eight percent in barley).
But if wild oats emerge five days after the crop, yield losses were found to be seven percent in wheat and three percent in barley.
