By the time North Carolina farmers noticed that their Italian ryegrass wasn’t responding to paraquat in October 2020, it had already taken over. Italian ryegrass’ reign of terror as a herbicide-resistant weed in the United States began in the 1990s with ACCase-inhibiting herbicides. The recent confirmation of paraquat-resistant ryegrass also led to the discovery of Italian ryegrass biotypes with multiple resistances to as many as four different herbicide groups -- Groups 1, 2, 9 and 22. That sprawling web of resistant ryegrass has left many farmers across the United States with just fall-applied residual herbicides and integrated weed management to manage that weed.
Stack cover crops with residual herbicides
1 of 5
A cornfield is infested with Italian ryegrass.
From left, cereal rye cover crop versus an untreated plot full of Italian ryegrass.
Most Popular
LUCK, Wis. – There was a time when folks came together all across the land. They helped thresh each other’s grain. They raised barns. Get-toge…
Few pests eat away at farm profitability as much as soybean cyst nematode. Causing at least $1.5 billion in yield losses annually, it’s soybea…
With an increase in severe storms and strong winds, row-crop farmers are looking for new ways to work with Mother Nature. Several seed compani…
Pollinator declines are a global concern, and agriculture sits at the center of the challenge. As farms grow more efficient and landscapes bec…
Some things are easy to start but difficult to control and difficult to end. Arguments, wars and wildfires are among them. And while few of us…