Ken Smith: I’m Ken Smith, Extension Weed Scientist, University of Arkansas, Division of Agriculture. If we’re going to manage pigweed one of the concepts is that we must start clean. Starting clean is an old concept, as old as farming, but when we stop, take a real close look in this area, we’ve got as many as 20 pigweed seedlings in an area. Doesn’t take much soil to cover one of these little tiny seedlings. If we look down really close here and we start looking in this soil that has just slightly been disturbed, little tiny seedlings inside here that certainly will come up and grow if we do not take those out prior to planting.
Common question is, do we run our paraquat in front of our planter or behind the planter? I prefer to run it in front of the planter because as we get to these small ones like these that are in here with soil and are some of these that are almost covered with some of these little clods, then we’ll end up letting those escape. They’ll come back and bite us later on.
Your Arkansas Soybean Podcast was a production of the University of Arkansas System, Division of Agriculture, and was funded in part by the Arkansas Soybean Promotion Board. For more information on soybean farming in Arkansas contact your local county extension office.