Once the corn and soybean harvest rush is over, you owe it to your farm’s future to develop an integrated weed management plan for next season. Implementing a proactive and integrated weed management strategy is time well spent. That’s because it will have lasting consequences. Uncontrolled weeds produce enormous volumes of seeds, which can result in higher weed density. For example, research shows up to six times higher weed density for waterhemp in soybean fields with poor (30%) weed control compared to fields with near-total control.1 That’s a farm-management nightmare.
Proactive weed management helps you minimize weed competition while mitigating the risk of yield loss due to uncontrolled weed pressure.
The best framework for any integrated weed management plan is a systems-based approach that factors in a combination of chemical, cultural and mechanical methods. This will help you get a jump on weed control by evaluating how past strategies have played out, spotting likely problem spots early on and identifying specific steps that can help prevent a full-fledged weed invasion.
Here are the key considerations to include in your integrated weed management plan.
Evaluate the outcome of this past year’s integrated weed management strategy
Never let a good piece of data or a powerful insight go to waste. Begin mapping your integrated weed management for next season with a look back at last year’s wins and losses. Ask yourself:
- Where did weed escapes occur?
- Which field areas keep having weed problems?
- What methods are we using for weed control, and to what degree are they working?
Depending on what this assessment uncovers, you can begin making your plan.
For example, if you’re struggling to control weeds, consider incorporating new tactics. These might include more effective pre-emergence herbicides, residuals or even nonchemical methods.
Keep in mind that it’s not a good idea to repeat the same weed-management strategy year after year. This is true even if a specific practice is delivering great results. The reason? Repeated use of the same weed control strategies can encourage weeds to develop resistance to those very strategies.2
Instead, keep weeds guessing by mixing up your suite of management practices. For example, you might need to rotate in (or out) tools such as different pre-emergence herbicides, a residual combined with a post-emergence herbicide or some form of non-herbicide weed control.
Identify specific weed species for a targeted weed management plan
When you’re battling weeds, it helps to know a thing or two about the enemy you’re fighting. Accurate scouting and identification of weeds, many of which look alike, will allow you to create a targeted management plan. This careful scouting will help you assess which weeds are escaping so you can address the root cause. And it enables you to spot patterns, such as weeds that escape despite post-emergence herbicide applications, revealing the kinds of chemistries to which weeds in your fields are resistant.
When you figure out what kinds of weeds you’re dealing with, you can improve:
- Your crop rotation: Wheat or other grains get planted before summer annual weeds emerge, which can disrupt their cycle.
- Your herbicide selection: Consider switching up herbicide products so that you’re leveraging different modes of action from one season to the next.
- Your control tactics: Look for ways to balance chemistries with non-herbicide practices such as altering tillage types, adjusting row spacings or weeding by hand in targeted places.
With these specific details included in your weed management plans, you can decide precisely the right tool to use for weed control in your operation.
Prepare to integrate cultural and mechanical controls in your weed management plans
Fall burndown herbicides and other inputs can be a key part of your integrated weed management plan, but there are more tools available to you. Look for opportunities to integrate other practices such as diversifying your crop rotations to minimize weed pressure, adjusting planting dates and incorporating competitive crop varieties that naturally suppress weeds.3
Cover crops, for example, can help you suppress winter annual weeds and take a big bite out of weed seed banks. Among the best ways to do this is to terminate a cover crop and turn it into mulch that lies on top of the soil and suppresses weeds.4
Keep seasonal-appropriate practices top of mind, too. For example, in the fall, tillage can help keep perennial weeds such as dandelion in check. In spring, target remaining winter annuals such as butterweed, henbit and deadnettle so you have a clean slate for planting. Burndown of most weeds in the spring can be accomplished by using Sharpen® herbicide tank mixed with either 2,4-D or glyphosate.
Experts are available to help you make your integrated weed management decisions. Reach out to a nearby extension office agent, or a company professional like your regional BASF representative.
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Endnotes
- Anderson, Meaghan. “Are Your Weeds Declaring ‘I Will Survive!’?” Integrated Crop Management, Iowa State University Extension and Outreach, 3 July 2024, https://crops.extension.iastate.edu/post/are-your-weeds-declaring-i-will-survive. Accessed 17 June 2025.
- Jones, Eric, et al. “Now Is the Time To Make Your Weed Management Plan for the 2024 Growing Season.” SDSU Extension, 3 Mar. 2025, https://extension.sdstate.edu/now-time-make-your-weed-management-plan-2024-growing-season. Accessed 17 June 2025.
- Spearman, Becky, et al. Weed Identification in Pastures, Hayfields, and Sprayfields. NC State Extension, 2013, https://content.ces.ncsu.edu/weed-identification-in-pastures-hayfields-and-sprayfields. Accessed 17 June 2025.
- Reberg-Horton, Chris, and Alan York. Cover Crops for Weed Management in Row Crops. Southern Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE), 2022, https://southern.sare.org/resources/cover-crops-for-weed-management-in-row-crops/. Accessed 20 June 2025.
