Residual Herbicides Best Suited to Spring Marestail Management

May 07, 2018

By Amit Jhala

Figure 1. Marestail is best controlled at the rosette stage.

Marestail, also known as horseweed or Canada fleabane, is a winter or summer annual weed in Nebraska. Control is most successful in the fall or early spring at the rosette stage. If not controlled then it will compete with corn or soybean throughout the growing season, potentially causing significant yield reduction.

Marestail is sensitive to most herbicides labeled for its control early in its growth stage, i.e. the rosette stage. Often growers may rely primarily on post-emergence herbicides applied after the marestail is clearly visible; however, it’s recommended that burndown herbicides (with soil residual activities) be applied in fall/early spring to avoid potential crop-weed competition during summer.

Source: unl.edu

Video: A chain harrow is a game changer

Utilizing a rotational grazing method on our farmstead with our sheep helps to let the pasture/paddocks rest. We also just invested in a chain harrow to allow us to drag the paddocks our sheep just left to break up and spread their manure around, dethatch thicker grass areas, and to rough up bare dirt areas to all for a better seed to soil contact if we overseed that paddock. This was our first time really using the chain harrow besides initially testing it out. We are very impressed with the work it did and how and area that was majority dirt, could be roughed up before reseeding.

Did you know we also operate a small business on the homestead. We make homemade, handcrafted soaps, shampoo bars, hair and beard products in addition to offering our pasture raised pork, lamb, and 100% raw honey. You can find out more about our products and ingredients by visiting our website at www.mimiandpoppysplace.com. There you can shop our products and sign up for our monthly newsletter that highlights a soap or ingredient, gives monthly updates about the homestead, and also lists the markets, festivals, and events we’ll be attending that month.