Kochia Challenges

Jan 04, 2019

Farmers are busy evaluating their cropping options for the new crop year.

Weed control is a key factor in crop production and over the last couple of years, kochia has been more of an issue for some producers, especially in the southern half of the province.

Provincial Weed Control Specialist Clark Brenzil says it’s not a surprise since kochia does well under hot, dry conditions adding it’s a weed that spreads easily.

“There are about 40,000 seeds per plant depending on the size of it. So, that means it’s very good at spreading its progeny around, it’s also a tumbleweed. So not only does it create all those seeds, it’s also very good at spreading them around the countryside as well.”

He advises producers in an effort to control the weed not to summerfallow.

“Summerfallow is probably one of the primary reasons’ it’s developed glyphosate resistance. In addition to that, it’s the combination of doing that and applying only glyphosate at relatively low rates to control weeds within the summerfallow.”

He says research is showing the best way to manage the plant is to use a product or tank-mix that contains multiple groups of action.

Brenzil has more advice for farmers in dealing with kochia, don’t cheat on seed rates because you want that crop to be as competitive as possible, adding that he also recommends narrow row spacing of 10 inches or less.

Source : Discoverestevan

Video: Spring 2026 weather outlook for Wisconsin; What an early-arriving El Niño could mean

Northeast Wisconsin is a small corner of the world, but our weather is still affected by what happens across the globe.

That includes in the equatorial Pacific, where changes between El Niño and La Niña play a role in the weather here -- and boy, have there been some abrupt changes as of late.

El Niño and La Niña are the two phases of what is collectively known as the El Niño Southern Oscillation, or ENSO for short. These are the swings back and forth from unusually warm to unusually cold sea surface temperatures in the Pacific Ocean along the equator.

Since this past September, we have been in a weak La Niña, which means water temperatures near the Eastern Pacific equator have been cooler than usual. That's where we're at right now.

Even last fall, the long-term outlook suggested a return to neutral conditions by spring and potentially El Niño conditions by summer.

But there are some signs this may be happening faster than usual, which could accelerate the onset of El Niño.

Over the last few weeks, unusually strong bursts of westerly winds farther west in the Pacific -- where sea surface temperatures are warmer than average -- have been observed. There is a chance that this could accelerate the warming of those eastern Pacific waters and potentially push us into El Niño sooner than usual.

If we do enter El Nino by spring -- which we'll define as the period of March, April and May -- there are some long-term correlations with our weather here in Northeast Wisconsin.

Looking at a map of anomalously warm weather, most of the upper Great Lakes doesn't show a strong correlation, but in general, the northern tiers of the United States do tend to lean to that direction.

The stronger correlation is with precipitation. El Niño conditions in spring have historically come with a higher risk of very dry weather over that time frame, so this will definitely be a transition we'll have to watch closely as we move out of winter.