By now, everyone knows at least one story of a grower that sprayed Ignite on Roundup Ready crops or vice versa. Glufosinate and glyphosate may start with the same letter, but they definitely are not interchangeable.
Still, growers battling herbicide resistance will tell you the trait technologies have their own special strengths. Five years ago, Steve Stevens, a Tillar, Ark., grower decided he’d best integrate some Liberty Link into his all Roundup Ready system before Palmer Amaranth became more aggressive. Instead of an all or nothing swap, he opts to deploy both trait technologies.
Mapping software helps make sure he gets the right herbicide on the right acre. Neighbors have learned to ask what he has planted where. “We have planted the technologies row to row. You can do it,” says Stevens.
Last year he planted traits in blocks so aerial herbicide application was still an option. He believes a field flag system would be the ultimate cross check when spray rigs enter the field.
Listen in as Stevens describes how he uses both trait technologies to fight a weed resistance issue that he says “is very real.”
