WeedCompetition

This is MY Plot

BY TODD AMENRUD

SLICK TRICKS FOR BEATING

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To some managers weeds are like the “giftthat keeps on giving…you a pain in thehind-end.” Weed seeds (and occasionally

root systems or rhizomes) can sometimes sit dor-mant for several hundred years - then we comealong and change things so that it’s favorable forthat nasty plant to take root. Why bother withweed control? Weeds compete with your foodplot crops and will reduce production, qualityand utilization to a point until you have nothingleft. Sure, a few weeds aren’t going to hurt and atotally weed-free plot can be difficult to realize,but to me, weeds are my adversary and I showno mercy. The summer weed cycle is relentless soyou need to learn all the “tricks of the trade” ifyou wish to be master over it.

Target Identified!Many years ago I learned a trick from my long-time friends Craig & Neil Dougherty, famousfather & son whitetail managers from New York.They had a slick way of getting rid of certainweed competition growing amongst their perenni-als by using glyphosate. How is that possible witha “complete burn-down, non-selective, contactherbicide” like glyphosate if you’re not usingRoundup Ready crops? The key word here is“contact.” They had a technique so only the tar-geted plants would come in contact with the pow-erful non-selective herbicide.A light herbicide-soaked blanket was wrappedaround the bucket of the tractor. Then theywould raise the bucket so it traveled above thedesired crop, yet touched the nasty, taller, faster-growing weeds. This tactic worked especiallywell to remove certain weeds from perennialplots, but will work whenever you have weedsthat are taller than your desired crop. Annualweeds like thistle, burdock, ragweed and othersthat pop up fast and grow taller can be touchedby the chemical, while your clovers, alfalfa andchicory hide safely below the reach of the chemi-cal-draped bucket.This system was spotty, difficult to refresh andyou would kill a fair amount of desirable crops,but back then in was very inventive and we hadnothing else. I don’t know why anyone would goto those extents anymore. GrassWorks Weed

A GrassWorks Weed Wiper is a cool tool for targeting specific grassand weeds by using glyphosate. It also works for applying other

selective and non-selective herbicides.

Wiper™ makes this task easy. It’s really the ultimate tool for this tech-nique. It eliminates any drip or drift concerns and allows you to applychemical only to the weeds because of the role-on paint brush typeapplication. The GrassWorks Weed Wiper™ allows you to use muchless herbicide per acre because you target only the weeds and youeliminate the worry of drift problems because it can be used duringwindy conditions.The Weed Wiper™ is different from any other system I have everused because of the contact applicator and the rotating steel drum. Asit is driven it turns in the opposite direction it is traveling so you makegreat contact with plants you are trying to get rid of. This rotatingaction does several pretty ingenious things. First, it allows you to runthe herbicide on the rollers very saturated. Because it’s rotating it elim-inates any drip. Second, because of the reverse-revolving rollers it’sapplying the chemical to the underside of the leaves and stems. Someexperts feel this is the weakest part of the plant and there is greaterporosity so the chemical is absorbed quicker.Obviously with the adjustable height your chemicals target only theweeds and we’re not wasting it on the crop that we want to keep. Youcan adjust the height range from zero inches on up to five feet high.This significantly saves you herbicide which in turn saves you timeand money.

Lay some “Landmines”Certain plants have the ability to suppresscompetition around them. Some plants do it by“direct competition,” they grow fast and shadeout most opposition. Others change the soilmicrobial communities to make it difficult forcertain plants to grow. Others use “allelopathy.”“Allelopathy” refers to the effects of one planton another plant. Various crops and weedspecies can release biochemicals, known as alle-lochemicals, by discharging from various plantparts and leaching through the soil, root exuda-tion, volatilization, plant residue decomposition,and several other processes. The term “allelopa-thy” is from the Greek “allele” and “pathy” -meaning "mutual harm." Allelopathy can affectmany aspects of plant biology, including specificplant rates, individual plant growth and plantsuccession, productivity and the creation offruit… and for our purpose - dominance and thestructure of plant communities. To sum up inlayman’s terms, certain plants make it so otherscannot grow near them. Wouldn’t it be great if a food plot crop hadthese characteristics? It just so happens thatsome do – Oats, wheat and some other cerealscan form a dense root system that is difficult forweeds to penetrate. Buckwheat, millet, soybeans,cowpeas and many brassicas grow rapidly andwill shade-out most competition. In addition tothe direct competition approach, some brassicasproduce glycosinolate compounds which willsuppress weed competition. There are a fewbrassicas that will suppress competition, but fewof these brassicas are attractive to whitetails. TheDaikon radishes found in BioLogic’s new DeerRadish are one of the most attractive whitetailplantings we have ever seen, in addition to hav-ing this desirable characteristic to overpower anycompetition. The plants in BioLogic Deer Radish produce“glycosinolate compounds.” which will suppressweed growth. They are an excellent choice for

Here you have a perfect example of a predicament easily solved byproper maintenance procedures. In the first photo you have a nicestand of perennials hidden under some nasty grass and weeds. In

the second photo you see the same plot saved after applyingselective herbicide, mowing several times and fertilizing.

Before

After

Slick Tricks for Beating Weed Competitioncontinued

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claiming new ground without having to use excessiveglyphosate-based products. If that weren’t enough, underfavorable growing conditions BioLogic Deer Radish can pro-duce roots that will extend more than 3 feet deep in only 50to 60 days, with the thick portion of the root (often referredto as a root-bulb or tuber) reaching up to 18 inches long andas big around as your forearm. This root growth busts-up thenastiest hard-pans. They also leave nutrients behind forfuture crops. Besides all of these great growth traits, in over30 years of planting food plots and testing these plants forthe past four years, I have never seen whitetails devour any-thing like they do this crop.

No, no, no…you’ve got it backwardsIf you have an active native seed-bank that seems to be win-ning the “weed war,” or if you’re claiming new ground, youmay want to change the order of steps that you do in plotpreparation. Usually a person will kill the existing vegetationwith glyphosate or some other non-selective, complete burn-down herbicide, and then wait two weeks for the weeds toturn brown when they will then disk or till the area to preparethe seedbed. After that, they’ll plant and fertilize. Most fail tounderstand there will almost certainly be weed seeds lying dor-mant in the ground. When we come along and work the soil,by disturbing the soil we in essence “plant” those weed seeds.

The seeds have been waiting for the correct set of conditionsand can remain dormant in some cases for hundreds of years.Then we give them some fertilizer…the weeds love it! For sev-eral reasons I believe changing the order and the timing of thesteps will dramatically help prevent unwanted competition. To begin, I would work your soil and prepare the seedbedwell in advance of planting (3 to 6 weeks). For two reasons Iwould not kill the existing plants first unless they are tall orthick and difficult to turn under. The green plant residue willbreak down much faster than dried, brown, burned-downplant matter thus helping to retain any banked nutrients andmoisture. The dry plant matter would rob your topsoil ofmoisture and the extra nitrogen it takes to turn the driedplant residue into valuable organic matter. Preparing theseedbed in advance also allows the valuable microorganismsand nematodes that do the work of breaking down plantmater a chance to repopulate after most were killed whenyou first worked the soil. After working the soil, let the native seed-bank germinateand green-up…NOW kill everything with Roundup or yourfavorite non-selective, complete burn-down, contact herbi-cide. Then plant without working the soil again. This wayyou’ll prevent the accidental “planting” of more weed seedsfrom your native bank. The main point is to plant after her-bicide burn-down, but without working the soil again.

Commonly a food plot farmer treats with herbicide, waits two weeks for the sprayed foliage to turn brown, then turns itunder by disking or tilling, and then plants and fertilizes. Oftentimes there will be weed seeds laying dormant in the soiland by disturbing the soil we “plant” the weed seeds. By simply changing around the order of planting steps you can

dramatically cut down on weed competition.

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Don’t Pick up HitchhikersIt’s common sense, but I have to admit to doing itmyself… as an example - you have some problem weeds(we’ll say thistles) on your property and it’s the perfectopportunity to mow them because you’re driving by and thebush-hog is attached to your tractor. Then a few days lateryou head to your best perennial plot to mow it withoutcleaning off the mower first. The next spring you see thistlespopping up in your perennials and wonder how they gotthere. Doh!It’s just common sense…maybe there’s a bit of laziness too –scraping all that caked-on plant residue off of your mower deckis certainly not a fun job, but it’s a necessary job if you want toprevent unwanted competition. This same philosophy goes forall your implements – disks, tillers, harrows, etc. Certain plantsspread best by seed, others by rhizomes, and you don’t need alot of either to make a huge patch of weeds or unwanted grassin your food plot. Keep your implements clean!

Show no MercyIf you can’t identify the weed take a sample to your Agri-culture Extension office, a farm supply store with an agron-omist on duty, a University agronomy department, or even alocal farmer. There are some common selective herbicidesthat are safe to use over many popular food plot blends, butyou must know what you’re dealing with before you beginspraying chemicals. There are many selective herbicides used in the agriculturalbusiness, but the two types that are the most common when

Slick Tricks for Beating Weed Competitioncontinued

Certain crops can win over competition by direct competition, by changing the soil microbial communities or by releasing

biochemicals, known as allelochemicals, to make it difficult forcertain plants to grow. BioLogic’s Deer Radish produces glycosinolate compounds which suppress the growth of

competing plants.

planting food plots would be a selective grass herbicide(only kills grass) like Select, Volunteer or Poast, or abroadleaf herbicide like 2,4-D, Pursuit or Raptor. If you have a bad problem with one or the other type of(grass or broadleaf) competition I will sometimes suggestthat you forgo a growing season and target that precisetype of competition relentlessly. It doesn’t mean you can’t

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have a crop, it just means you have to be selective in whatyou plant. If you’ve had grass problems, like crabgrass orjohnsongrass, then plant a broadleaf like clovers, brassicasor peas – then spray them to kill the grass. On the otherhand, if you have a broadleaf problem, plant a grass such asgrain sorghum, or a cereal grain like oats or wheat. Thenyou will be able to control the unwanted plant with selec-tive chemical herbicides. In other words, you can kill yourunwanted grass or broadleaf weeds by spraying right overthe top without killing your desired food plot planting. (Formore information on herbicide use please contact a BioLog-ic consultant at www.plantbiologic.com or 866.867.5268)Concerning perennials…just mow them! You’ll almostcertainly need to spray a selective grass herbicide over yourperennials, but if you have broadleaf weed problems inyour perennials and your pH is neutral, and you fertilizeproperly (no nitrogen and according to soil test results) thenyou likely haven’t mowed…at least not often enough. Idon’t know why some people are leery of mowing theirperennials – it’s good for them! Perennials like to be mowed- most broadleaf weeds do not. Besides reducing broadleafweed competition, mowing ill produce more palatablegrowth on your perennials and stimulate stolon productionwhich will lead to thicker, healthier stands. It depends onmany details as to how often and how aggressive youshould mow, but almost certainly you should be mowing atleast three times during the growing season at a minimum.

That’s CornyIt may seem cliché, but the best defense against weed com-petition is creating an environment best suited for your specif-ic crop. You want to manipulate the soil to have the correctpH, the right nutrient load, acceptable moisture and sunlightlevels, and the proper amount of organic matter for your cho-sen food plot crop, not the native plants or any other wildweed. Many plants (both crops and natives) will do well in awide range of conditions, so since there will certainly be some

sort of competition, you need to give your specific crop thebest chance for success. Set yourself up for victory.I’ve watched hundreds of customers gab a bag of seedand think they’re going to “whip it out and grow them-selves a food plot,” then reap the rewards from then “untilthe cows come home.” Most will contact us shortly aftertheir disappointment and want to learn how to do it right.More concerning is some will do the same thing, the sameway for several years before they admit defeat and learn todo it correctly…maybe it’s testosterone or maybe it’s justplain stupidity. Many of us learn the hard way, by experiencing severalfailures that testing the soil is vital to our consistent success.In this endeavor a failure can mean losing hundreds, if notthousands of dollars. Almost more “costly” is the fact thatyou have to wait an entire year to try again. Sure, MotherNature can throw you a curve ball and there may be noth-ing you can do, but getting your soil right and followingproper planting and maintenance procedures are essentialto ongoing success. Especially when claiming new ground, you must changethe soil to benefit your selected crop. The environment thatwas present before you came along to claim that spot wasperfectly suited for the specific native plants that weregrowing there; you need to manipulate the soil so that theconditions are now perfect for your chosen crop. A vigor-ous environment that has the distinctive characteristics bestfor your specific crop is what you want. A strong food plotwith healthy soil is the absolute best defense againstunwanted competition.•