This project is supported through funding from the Australian Government Department of Agriculture as part of its Rural R&D for Profit program and the Grains Research and Development Corporation and the Cotton Research and Development Corporation.

Split screen virtual tours displaying Fleabane pre treatment and two weeks post treatment for comparison

Observations

University of Adelaide, Professor of weed management Chris Preston gave the following recommendations for spraying weeds at a recent Dried Fruits Australia Crop walk in November.

• Expensive treatments work but don’t need to be used all the time. They can be used strategically to stop seed set particularly with ryegrass.
• Consider a cover crop in the interrow to compete with weeds that will help to reduce the build up of weed seeds in the system.
• Small weeds are easier to manage than large weeds – spray early to target small weeds even if it means one more control may be required. This will help with long term weed management.
• Get your application right – make sure water rates are not too high so as not to dilute the surfactant that is sprayed with glyphosate as diluting the surfactant will give a poorer result.
• If you can’t reduce the water rate consider increasing the surfactant in the mix to improve the efficacy of glyphosate.

Fleabane