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Drought Tips for Farmers:
Impact of Herbicide ResiduesWhen soils are moist during the growing season, herbicides break down through microbial and chemical processes. However, these reactions may be slowed considerably during drought conditions. If herbicide residues are significant, they may injure rotational crops the following season, so growers need to be aware of the potential problem and take steps to decrease the risk of injury. Consider the following tips from the University of Maryland Cooperative Extension:
- Check the label of herbicides used during a drought. It will tell you the normal interval between application and planting for a specific rotational crop. Footnotes frequently indicate if the risk of carryover is greater under certain conditions, such as dry soils.
- Select this year’s herbicides carefully. Don’t choose herbicides or use rates that have significant injury potential by themselves. And don’t use products that may interact with carryover levels of last year’s products.
- Look for herbicide tolerance. Select crop varieties or hybrids with greater tolerance to the herbicide used during the drought year. This information is not available for all varieties, but ask your seed supplier for assistance.
- Use good management practices. Good seedbeds, proper seeding depth and rate, adequate soil fertility and insect and disease protection will minimize the effect of herbicide carryover. Many crops can tolerate a single stress relatively well, but two or more stresses can result in significant loss of crop vigor and yield.
For more information on assessing- and dealing with- possible drought-related herbicide residues, contact your local Maryland Cooperative Extension office. Phone numbers are listed under county government headings in the blue pages of the phone directory.
Media contact for more information:
Ron Ritter, (301) 405-1329
Pam Townsend, (301) 405-4595
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