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HomeMy WebLinkAboutZurich Citizens News, 1981-08-20, Page 12Admission $,25 ZURICH BEAN FESTIVAL Friday Night TEEN DANCE Friday, August 21 9 p.m. at the Zurich Community Centre N. Page 12 Citizens News August 20, 1961 Huron farm and home news Look for conserviition winner We are looking for Huron County land owners who have managed their farms to conserve soil, water and other natural resources. Such management practices may involve erosion control (grassed waterways, proper tillage, crop rotation etc.) stream improvement (buffer zones, tile outlet protection, ditch bank stabilization, etc.) woodlot management, windbreaks and reforestation and manure management. Individuals or groups wishing to nominate a can- didate should send the nominee's name and address by August 31, 1981, to Conservation Award Com- mittee, Ministry of Agriculture and Food, Box 159, Clinton, NOM 1L0 John Heard, Assistant Agricultural Represen- tative. Perennial weed control in August and September To everything there is a season. A time to sow, a time to reap. Or so a popular song writer once wrote. If he knew much about crops he would have added a few more lines. He would have written that late summer - early fall is a time to control perennial weeds - especially bindweed and twitch grass. Now, there are some of you who know this treatment works, but not all of you. Simon DeWitt of the Dublin area knows it works. Last year he had a field of wheat and a terrific stand of bindweed. The bindweed didn't hurt his wheat much, but he was afraid of what it would do to the white beans this year. So Simon wanted to know what to do. I told him to cut the wheat and then wait for (PERCY BEDARD Caarpenterroenta. *Custom Built Homes *Renovations *Additions *Repairs *Free Estimates Phone 236-4873 t After 6 Zurich the bindweed to come back into bloom. Then spray with either Kilmor or Dicamba. Simon wanted to know which was best. I told him that the researchers were a bit divid- ed on the issue, but they collectively thought Kilmor would do a better job. He asked me what I thought and I suggested "Why don't you run your own test. Do one-half of the field with Kilmor and the other half of the field with Dicamba." - He spayed Dicamba at one gallon per 8 acres and Kilmor at one gal. per 10 acres. I said the main thing was to wait as long as possible into September before spraying. He had to wait until the bindweed was in late bud or early bloom. On the other hand, if he waited too late and had an early killing frost, there would not be enough good weather to let the plants translocate the herbicide to the roots. Well, last year that first two weeks of September, Simon got quite anxious. He would call the office and ask "Is it ready to spray?" I would ask him if the bindweed was in bloom. He would say no and then worry some more. Three or four days later he would call again - same conversation. Finally. about the 15th of September the bindweed came back into bloom and he sprayed. Last week (August llth) I walked Simon's bean field, •comparing the two treatments. He has at least 90% control of the bindweed possibly 95% control. And there was no difference between the side sprayed with Kilmor versus the side sprayed with Dicamba. This year Simon has another field. Another bindweed problem, but with a different slant. This year he sowed red clover with the nitrogen on his wheat. The red clover is about 2 to 4" high now. The bindweed is quite general throughout the field. Simon is concerned that when he sprays the bindweed, he will also kill the red clover. I tried to lessen Simon's concern by telling him that if this September is the same as last year, his bindweed will bloom again about September. That will give his red clover" a good six weeks of growth after harvesting the wheat. This should give him 80 to 90% benefit of his red clover. True, he will not get the full benefit of his red clover, but he will certainly get enough value to pay for his seed. Also, the bindweed can be a nuisance next year in the beans, so he has no choice. He has to spray it this September. Twitch grass getting worse You know, this twitch grass problem is, worse now in Perth and Huron counties than when I came here nine years ago. I don't want to take all the credit for that, but it is a problem. I amnow convinced that you can make twitch grow better by apply- ing one lb. of Atrazine per acre. And many of you are doing that. Putting on an an- nual grass killer plus a bit of Atrazine. This low rate of Atrazine merely gets rid of the annual weeds and gives the twitch a better place to grow. lam convinced that Atrazine, used this way, makes twitch grow better. So what do you do about it? Any fields that are going to be sown to corn next year should have Atrazine applied this fall. If it is a sod or cereal field this year, you can put that 2.2 kg/ha. of ac- tual Atrazine on any time. If you are applying it while the twitch is actively growing, then use corn oil. Not those surfactants or soaps or corn eil concentrates, but the corn oil in the 45 gallon drum. By using oil this fall, you burn off that top growth and hasten the route of Atrazine to the twitch roots. If you are applying this Atrazine later this fall - say October - there is .no point of putting oil with it. You are merely applying the Atrazine to the surface and plowing that down. That Atrazine will be right where those twitch grass roots are. Those roots will grow right into the Atrazine as soon as they start to grow next spring. In fact there is no reason why you couldn't mount the sprayer onto the tractor and spray as you plow. Slow down for the bad areas, and where there is no twitch turn the sprayer off. If you aren't growing corn nextyear on those fields in- fested with twitch, you can use either Round -up or Cytrol. For both products the • twitch must be 6 to 8" • tall and actively growing. The companies that sell both products would far rather you use them in . the late summer than in the spring. T.he main reason is more consistent results. In fact to encourage this late summer use, Monsanto has a sale on Round -up. buy 30 litres and you get 4 litres free. (They are calling it a sale, but at the price of this product the word sale may be questioned) . New product for twitch in 1982 You are getting at least one more chemical to battle twitch grass. It is a product called Poast. It is marketed by BASF. I spent part of a day in late July with Barry Gordon from Seaforth. He is the area representative for BASF. He showed me some of their plots. They had sprayed Poast on white beans and on soybeans that had either annual grasses or twitch grass. The product looked very im- pressive. It was controlling twitch grass in ; both kinds of beans. The good news is that it will probably be registered for edible beans for next year. The price will probably be competitive with Round -up. The beauty of this product is that you will be able to clean up bean fields of twitch without residue. You will be ble to spot spray fields that have just a "bit of twitch" around the outside and in those low spots. Now, it has a couple of drawbacks. The first is that it does not give dramatic kill. The plants remain green even though they are dead. The second is that it only kills twitch grass that is up. That means if you plan on using it next year don't plow deep this year. If you bury those rhizones 8" deep this fall, next year many of the plants will not emerge until late in the season. Poast will not control twitch that is not up. Pat Lynch, John Heard, Soil & Crop Specialist, Assistant Agr. Rep. WELCOME TO THE 16TH ANNUAL ZURICH BEAN FESTIVAL DON'T FORGET THAT OUR 4fl's DINING ROOM WILL BE OPEN a e { lie 10/ • L Dominion Dtiuiq ounge and Taueni 1 7,Ahth st.. %„o, ontanto (Phone 236-4371 .0, • MR. AND MRS. GERARD CYR On July 11, Susan Eileen Kanenburg, daughter of Lyndon and Barbara Kanenburg of Guelph and Lionel Gerard Cy son of Lionel and Bernadette Cyr, RR 1, Dashwood, were united in marriage at Our Lady of Roman Catholic Church in Guelph. Matron of honour was Debra Kanenberg, sister of the bride. Best man was Ronald Miller, friend of the groom. After o honeymoon trip North, the couple are now residing in Guelph. WELCOME TO THE 16th ANNUAL ZURICH BEAN FESTIVAL. We're proud to serve the community MAY TOWNSHIP FARMERS MUTUAL FIRE INSURANCE COMPANY 236-4381 Zurich T rn . r -