A drive towards more sustainable farming techniques and a reduced  chemical armoury is sharpening the focus on mechanical weed control  methods.

Mechanical weeding options on the rise

The introduction of a new active for post-emergence grass-weed control in 2023 provided a vital increase in efficacy to prevent weed populations running out of control. 

Achieving more with post-ems

With good spray windows few and far between this spring, it’s important to be decisive when planning spring weed control.

Seize the opportunity to control grass-weeds

The importance of using a range of cultural controls and different modes of action is widely recognised as being key to managing herbicide resistance risks, but what is actually happening on-farm? Crop Focus investigates..

Mode of action diversity – putting it into practice

Controlling grasses in wheat, barley and other cereal crops is always difficult because of the biological similarity between the crops and weeds. And other countries face similar problems, as we find out from the Bayer team in France.

Managing the weed seedbank: lessons from France

Emerger, the pre-emergence residual herbicide with activity against a range of common broadleaved weed species, can now be applied in field beans (winter and spring) and combining peas. 

Emerger approved for use in pulses

Controlling weeds in spring has a two-fold benefit. Firstly, it stops weeds taking light, water, space and nutrients from the crop, helping maintain overall yield.

Measuring the benefit of a post-em application – 2023 trial results

More than any other herbicide timing, the success of spring post-ems is dependent on conditions around the time of application. 

Learning from Denmark’s success with spray timing tool

An overview of the challenges posed by bromes, how to identify them and create a robust control strategy.

Brome Knowledge Hub

Investigating ryegrass problems, the rise of resistance and the best control strategies for your field.

Italian Ryegrass Knowledge Hub

But with a greater choice of actives now available, farmers should look to diversify Mode of Action rather than increase the loading of one or two actives.

Practical benefits of mixing modes of action

The busy weeks in autumn when cereal crops are drilled and treated with pre-em herbicides have a huge impact on yield potential at harvest. 

Optimising herbicide programs for effective autumn weed control in wheat and barley crops

The Bayer Mode of Action Survey 2023 identified that resistance management is a high priority to most farmers. 

Resistance management into practice

Explore important considerations for selecting herbicides for autumn weed control in cereals. Understand herbicide selection principles, target weeds, efficacy, timing, and crop safety.

Actives for Autumn: Choosing Effective Herbicides for Cereal Weed Control

Black-grass control does not start with the pre-emergence herbicide programme, read our ultimate guide to controlling black-grass before planting your next crop.

The Ultimate Guide to controlling black-grass before planting your next crop

A useful encyclopaedia of key grass-weeds that threaten your cereal crops.

Cereal Grass-weeds

Initial results from the Bayer Mode of Action Survey 23 indicate that herbicide resistance management is a priority for farmers. Of the 243 participants, 83% said it was very important to agronomy on farm.

Managing Herbicide Resistance: Initial insights from the Bayer Mode of Action Survey 23

Farmers have a wide range of actives to choose from to control grass- weeds in wheat, particularly at the pre-emergence timing. New chemistry, such as aclonifen and cinmethylin, set the standard, but a wide range of older chemistry is still effective too.

Delving into mode of action diversity benefits

Controlling weed survivors in the spring is the final step in the weed control programme.

Extra active keeps up the pressure on grass-weeds

Results from the recent Bayer/ NIAB Italian ryegrass survey confirmed anecdotal reports that the weed is becoming more of a problem.

Knowledge is power when tackling Italian ryegrass

Weeds are a fact of life on arable farms. Whatever system a farmer adopts, one weed or another will find a niche and cause problems. We take a quick look at some of the main challenges for weed control in the future.

5 challenges for future weed control

Gareth Bubb highlights four key areas for growers to consider in October in the west

How to manage weeds and diseases in cereal and oilseed rape crops in the west in October

Effective pre-crop management of grass-weeds is perhaps even more critical to overall weed control than what tactics are employed during the life of a winter cereal.

Top sprayer tips: How to maximise grassweed control from pre-emergence herbicides in cereals

Black-grass and Italian ryegrass are the main two problem grass weeds for UK arable farmers. But despite lots of things in common, effective control methods are not the same. Here are some of the key differences to look out for ahead of autumn drilling.

5 Key differences between black-grass and ryegrass

With a wide range of grass-weed issues across the country, Crop Focus examines how to tackle some of the main threats.

Managing mixed grass-weeds

Don’t overlook the importance of seedbed preparation to optimise the performance of winter cereal pre-em herbicides, growers are advised.

Seedbed quality drives optimum weed control

Many UK Italian ryegrass populations are still susceptible to pinoxaden and ALS chemistry

Controlling ryegrass with post-em chemistry

New stewardship guidelines aimed at protecting workers hand pulling bolters and weed beet from sugar beet crops are being introduced.

Ensure the safety of your sugar beet workers this summer

Researchers tested glyphosate performance against 50 populations of ryegrass gathered in 2019 as part of a programme investigating resistance among selective herbicides. No resistance to glyphosate was found but product stewardship needs to remain a hig...

Glyphosate remains a vital tool for ryegrass control

Despite being a hard weed to control, herbicide programmes with a range of modes of action can still effectively control ryegrass alongside cultural controls.

6 facts about herbicide resistance in Italian ryegrass

Top sprayer tips: How to maximise glyphosate efficacy on autumn stubbles

What is a mode of action? As you will all know, and I’m going to concentrate on herbicides but the same applies to all pesticides and indeed pharmaceutical drugs, a herbicide contains one or more active substances.

Why diversifying herbicide modes of action is crucial

Fungicides provide some of the biggest returns on investment of all crop protection products for farmers

Top sprayer tips: How to maximise returns from fungicides through spray application

Farmers can call on a new mode of action to control weeds in winter barley crops. Bayer now supports Proclus (aclonifen) in a tank-mix with Liberator (flufenacet + diflufenican) for pre-emergence control.

Get the aclonifen effect in barley

The Bayer/ NIAB survey tested 197 Italian ryegrass samples for resistance to flufenacet. Trials also looked at cross-resistance to other common pre-em actives and how a farm standard pre-em programme would perform against the hardest to control populati...

Mix modes of action to bust resistant ryegrass

The NIAB / Bayer ryegrass samples exceeded expectations with a large number of samples sent in during the summer.

Fantastic response to Italian ryegrass survey

With the sprayer all set up for the season, maximising efficiency is critical for helping to extend the available time for spraying and helping ensure products are applied in a timely manner.

Top Sprayer Tips: How to fill a sprayer optimally

Sugar beet is one of the few crops that supports a wide range of effective grass and broadleaved weed control options. Even for black-grass, a scourge for those on heavier land, the pre- and post-emergence options are far from limited.

Getting the best from Betanal Tandem: four top tips for weed control

For farm manager Adrian Howell from North Norfolk, reliable and effective weed control is essential.

Emerger becomes the foundation of weed control

The sprayer has been in the shed for the winter, or for a couple of months, and the new spray season approaches. Read the following tips to help you prepare for the busy period ahead.

Top Sprayer Tips: 7 Top Sprayer Tips to Prepare Your Sprayer for the Season Ahead

The heavy lifting of a grassweed control programme in wheat, in theory, should have been done before we reach the spring through a combination of cultural controls, pre-drilling Roundup (glyphosate) and pre-emergence and / or early post-emergence residu...

Top sprayer tips: How to maximise efficacy of spring grassweed herbicide sprays in wheat

Interview with Stephen Moss about why some weeds survive herbicide applications and how to ensure good control across the programme.

Dealing with weed survivors

While a lot of attention is rightly placed on product choice, it’s important to maximise the output from this investment – the difference between good and poor spray application can potentially have a significant influence on the performance of the trea...

Top Sprayer Tips: Best practice advice for spraying off overwintered stubbles and cover crops with glyphosate

Find out more about the update to the WRAG’s guidelines in autumn 2021 and how this impacts advice on preventing glyphosate resistance.

5 Tips to Prevent Glyphosate Resistance in Farming

Tom Chillcott, Cereal Herbicides Campaign Manager reflects on the weed pressure in cereal crops this year, what to focus on pre-drilling, and options for control that support good weed resistance management ahead of the new season.

How previous seasons’ weed control can inform your approach this autumn

Black-grass often grabs the weed control headlines but there are several other grass-weeds that cause problems for farmers across the country. Here we summarise the main management techniques for some of the most problematic weeds.

Staying in control of grass-weeds

How much do you know about sugar beet weeds?

Sugar beet weed quiz

Weed profiles and populations will vary up and down the UK as well as from field to field. But, a robust weed control programme and good application technique will pay you back in good crop establishment with minimal weed competition.

4 top tips for weed control in potatoes

With reports of emerging resistance to ALS-inhibiting herbicides, and the need to take a more sustainable approach to weed control, growers should employ a range of integrated pest management (IPM) approaches to manage brome, and protect yields.

Take an IMP approach to brome control in winter cereals

Find out more about the technologies used, challenges and breakthroughs in digital crop imaging for farming.

Understanding crop imaging in digital farming

6 tips on how to choose, target and apply post-em herbicides such as Pacifica Plus, Monolith and Othello against black-grass ryegrass annual meaow-grass brome and cleavers.

6 Steps for post-em success

Spring can be a critical time for weed control programmes in winter wheat crops. Both grass weeds and broad-leaved weeds can cause problems in spring and poorly established crops can be particularly susceptible to weed infestations. Bayer’s Darren Adkin...

Ultimate guide to spring weed control in winter wheat

Andrew Harker has a simple objective: to farm profitably without reliance on direct payments. Fulfilling this ambition, however, is proving to be far from easy.

Farming without subsidies means first winning the black-grass war

Using Climate FieldView has helped a grower map areas of black-grass within a field, and create a variable seed rate map for a spring barley crop, all within days of signing up.

How to use FieldView to map black-grass and create a variable seed rate map

Brome grasses can develop into yield-robbing infestations if not closely managed. With harvest coming up, it is worth considering what you can do before, during and after combining to keep brome grasses in check.

8 tips for managing brome

A visual guide to help you understand the biology of black-grass and the factors affecting its germination, growth and presence in the soil seedbank.

Your guide to black-grass biology and seedbank dynamics

How to get the best results from using glyphosate for black-grass control and manage resistance risks.

Effective use of glyphosate for black-grass control

Mapping black-grass populations in the field should be the foundation of any control programme. It allows controls to be targeted precisely where needed and enables the effectiveness of management strategies to be monitored over multiple seasons.

Guide to mapping black-grass

An overview of how to ensure optimal pre-emergence efficacy

Six tips for maximising the efficacy of pre-ems

Agronomist uses results of resistance test for pre-em chemistry in rye-grass to plan weed control

Resistance Test Helps Plan Rye-Grass Control

Take full advantage of land left uncropped following the wet winter, together with any poorly established areas of spring cropping, to get on top of problem grassweeds as well as correcting any soil structural damage this summer, advises Bayer technical...

Take full advantage of extra grassweed control opportunities

The weediest stubbles for many years, courtesy of few, if any, windows for early winter cultural or chemical control make first-class early spring cereal management vital this season.

Weedy Stubbles Demand First Class Spring Cereal Management

Research into weed seedbank at two farms showing black-grass seed numbers at a range of depths and recruitment of seeds for germination.

Seedbank study reveals black-grass situation below the surface

Seed capture and destruction like chaff lining offers farmer another tool to control difficult black-grass and rye-grass populations

Is harvest weed seed management the next big technique for controlling difficult grassweeds in the UK?

Advice on how to carry out a black-grass resistance shoot test, which provides valuable information to help plan weed control strategies.

How to collect black-grass samples for a resistance shoot test

A survey of over 200 spray operators revealed that post-emergence grass-weed control in wheat is one of the hardest spray targets for both timing and accuracy.

6 Spring Spraying Tips for Effective Herbicide Application

While many growers are struggling to drill winter wheat crops, those that have managed to get some in the ground have also been contemplating the potential effects of the challenging conditions on weed control and crop safety from pre-emergence herbicid...

7 steps for a safe and effective autumn herbicide programme

Bayer formulation specialist, Dr Andreas Roechling, discusses the factors that determine how we formulate our herbicides. Get the inside story here.

Herbicide formulation: How we maximise effectiveness in the field

Herbicide resistance, particularly in black-grass, is a major threat to the sustainability of UK arable farming – it is a problem the farming industry can’t ignore.

How much do you know about herbicide resistance?

What do farmers need to be aware of in the first season without Redigo Deter?

6 tips to avoid a clash of black-grass and aphid control

Using a post-emergence herbicide is, for many, the final step in an integrated weed management plan. It’s the last opportunity, to control black-grass and minimise seed return for the following season.

Four tips for getting the most out of post-emergence herbicides this autumn

Pre-emergence herbicidess are an effective way to control black-grass but timing, conditions and application are crucial to get the best efficacy. ect, growers should consider the following factorsHere are four tips to maximise performance:

Four tips for getting the most out of pre-emergence herbicides in black-grass control

Planning your crop rotations to help manage black-grass? This article provides some helpful guidance on which crops to consider and why.

Crop rotation choices for black-grass management: What you need to know

Patch spraying crops with glyphosate to control black-grass is an extreme option, but may be the best option. Find out why, where and when to patch spray black-grass here.

How to patch spray black-grass: Why, where and when

Are you preparing to get your seeds tested for black-grass resistance? Check out our 8-step guide and short video to make sure your results will be accurate.

How to collect seed for black-grass resistance testing: An 8-step guide

Following up with a post-emergence in autumn will press home the advantage on plants weakened by the pre-em.

Weed Management

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