By Brian Hefty

What’s your plan for fencelines and ditches this year?  If you don’t have a plan, you’re not alone, but I want you to ask yourself, “Where do a lot of weeds and insects come from in order to get into your crop fields?”  Unfortunately, the answer is fencelines and ditches.  As a farmer, you likely have a trained eye to spot weeds and other problems in fields, but I challenge you to look further this summer.  Look at all the weeds in fencelines and ditches.  It is alarming, and it’s no wonder why resistant weeds are spreading so fast.

Here’s the good news.  Spraying in fencelines and ditches doesn’t have to cost a fortune.  Plus, if you planted Roundup Ready 2 Xtend beans, you can now spray dicamba (Clarity or Banvel) safely around all your field borders.

Here are the products that may fit on your farm.  Always check the label to make sure each product is labeled in your area on the specific non-crop ground you want to spray.  Also, check the grazing restrictions if you intend to bale or graze.

Weeds

  • Clarity – Once Xtend beans get full approval everywhere going into next year, we expect Clarity to become the most popular ditch/fenceline herbicide in the U.S.  Both 2,4-D and Clarity are effective, but we prefer dicamba on a few of the tougher weeds.  The price of generic Clarity has been coming down over the last year, and we expect that trend to continue over the next 12+ months.  In other words, spraying Clarity is going to get pretty inexpensive by next year.  Even today, using a half pint to a full pint isn’t bad considering the amount of weeds we see in fencelines and ditches.
  • LV6 – You can certainly use 2,4-D amine, but LV6 usually has a little more kick.  I like the 1 quart rate of LV6 per acre in pastures, fencelines, and ditches, as that typically wipes out everything, even burning thistles to the ground.  LV6 isn’t great on perennials, and it probably won’t completely kill all your thistles or leafy spurge, but when it comes to Roundup-resistant annual broadleaves, LV6 is awesome.
  • Generic Buctril – I know.  Buctril isn’t great on waterhemp, and it’s marginal on a number of other broadleaves.  I only mention it because it is very low drift, so if you want to use it on field borders where non-Xtend soybeans are planted, it is usually pretty safe.  Buctril is great on lambsquarters and wild buckwheat, and if the weeds are small you will see decent activity on ragweed and many other weed species.

Insects

  • Silencer – It is very common for bugs to get their start in your fencelines and ditches before moving into your fields.  For example, grasshoppers, cutworms, armyworms, stalkborers, and many more species are often first found in field borders.  Our recommendation is usually to spray 3.84 oz of Silencer, which only costs around $2 per acre.  If you can kill the bugs before they get into your field, you will likely spend a lot less money and better protect your crop.