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Black-Grass: The Definitive Resource

 

 

Controlling black-grass is a year-round task, requiring cultural and chemical controls. Our definitive guide explains the building blocks of a successful control strategy, covering everything from mapping populations to the integrated controls available to tackle the problem.

 

Check your black-grass populations

June and July are the best times to check black-grass populations and plan your control programme. 

Black-grass plants are visible above the crop canopy, so you can take the time to note black-grass hotspots and count the number of plants per square metre. This, combined with testing seed for herbicide resistance gives you an idea of the extent of the black-grass problem and how to tackle it.

Immediate steps include patch spraying, hand-rogueing and harvest weed seed management. Looking further ahead, there is the opportunity to plan crop rotation, cultivation and establishment for the coming season.

In-depth advice

Use crop rotation to manage black-grass

Using your crop to manage black-grass is another building block towards total weed control.

Through crop choice, spring drillings, and delayed autumn drillings, significant improvement can be made in black-grass control.

Given the right conditions, crops can provide their own weed control by competing with weeds for light and space. Higher seed rates, variety choice and drilling date can all push things in the crop’s favour, meaning herbicides can finish the job.

Crop rotation is also important to interrupt weed life cycles and prevent herbicide resistance. A balance of different crops will make it harder for stubborn weed populations to develop, while spring drilling will mean fewer black-grass plants germinate in the crop itself.

In-depth advice

 

Choose the right cultivation technique

Cultural controls are a vital part of an integrated weed management programme and put less pressure on chemical applications. Cultivation can eliminate black-grass before the crop is planted, as well as create a good seedbed for crop establishment.

Cultivation is determined by soil type, crop choice, available machinery and your own preference. There is no single cultivation solution for black-grass control, but there are a number of principles that are worth paying attention to – for example:

  • Burying black-grass seed through appropriate ploughing
  • Encouraging germination through stale seedbeds
  • Rolling after drilling

Choosing the right cultivation to suit the soil type on your farm (and the level of black-grass present) is a key part of control. Cultivations should be carefully considered; if not done correctly, they can accelerate the black-grass problem.

In-depth advice

Delay drilling and increase seed rates

With 80% of black-grass weeds germinating between August and October, the later drilling takes place, the more time there is to get on top of emerging weed populations.

Postponing drilling until the second half of October will allow more weeds to flush and be treated with glyphosate prior to drilling, as well as reducing the number of black-grass plants that emerge in the crop. Increasing seed rates and minimising soil disturbance are also important tools for getting the best control in late-drilled crops.

In-depth advice

Maximise black-grass control with the right chemistry

Chemical controls can be broadly split into four groups: pre-emergence and post-emergence herbicides, non-selective control across whole fields (i.e. pre-drilling glyphosate), and patch spraying.

1. Pre-emergence

Pre-emergence herbicides such as Liberator (flufenacet + diflufenican) remain the backbone of chemical black-grass control and, when paired with a solid programme of cultural controls, can prevent black-grass from stealing yield.

Pre-ems are applied immediately after drilling and taken up by weeds either through roots absorbing the active ingredient from the layer containing the herbicide, or by shoots emerging through this treated layer. Application conditions can therefore greatly affect efficacy.

Flufenacet remains a highly effective active ingredient for pre-emergence black-grass control, and when used in Liberator in conjunction with Proclus (aclonifen)  typically achieves high levels of control. The addition of aclonifen can increase control by 10-15%.

Stacks or sequences of other actives, such as pendimethalin, prosulfocarb and tri-allate are also possible to improve control.

In-depth advice

 

Post-emergence

Post-emergence herbicides are a vital part of integrated black-grass control programmes, especially where pre-em control has been compromised (e.g. due to weather) or weed emergence is protracted.

Contact post-emergence herbicides like Atlantis OD (mesosulfuron + iodosulfuron) and Monolith (mesosulfuron-methyl + propoxycarbazone) work by being absorbed through weed leaves. Hamlet (mesosulfuron, iodosulfuron + diflufenican) is also primarily contact-acting, but has some residual activity.

Ideally, growers should apply a post-emergence spray while black-grass is still small and easier to control.

In-depth advice

 

3. Non-selective (whole fields)

Non-selective herbicides, principally glyphosate, have been a cornerstone of black-grass control for many years.

Targeted use of glyphosate can significantly reduce the pressure on other in-crop chemistry, minimise the need for intensive cultivations and achieve big reductions in weed populations.

Spraying off weed flushes before autumn or spring drilling means less black-grass emerges within the crop, which would otherwise need controlling with pre- or post-emergence products.

However, over-reliance on glyphosate must be avoided and best practice followed to protect the efficacy of this important tool.

In-depth advice

 

4. Patch spraying

Where black-grass has emerged late or survived other chemical and cultural controls, the option of last resort where hand rogueing is not feasible may be to spray-off affected areas of crop with a non-selective herbicide, such as glyphosate.

Doing so before black-grass sets seed in late June into July is essential to prevent potentially high levels of seed return in following crops.

Mapping black-grass helps identify areas requiring patch spraying and best practice guidelines must be followed when using glyphosate in this way.

In-depth advice

Black-grass resistance explained

Understanding the types and mechanisms of resistance, along with how it develops at the cellular and field scale, can help you to develop an effective black-grass control strategy.

What exactly is resistance?

Herbicide resistance is defined as ‘the inherited ability of a weed to survive a rate of herbicide that would normally kill it. (Moss SR, 2006).

3 key criteria must be fulfilled for a plant to be classified as ‘resistant’:

  • Resistance must be heritable (passed on to offspring)
  • The plant must occur naturally and not be the result of deliberate/artificial selection
  • Resistance must be confirmed using acceptable scientific protocols

How does resistance spread?

Once a mutation has occurred, the trait (e.g. herbicide resistance) is embedded in the genetic make-up of the plant and can be passed to offspring. Only 1 plant has to survive and produce viable seed for the traits conferring resistance to be passed on to the next generation.

Beware the false alarm

It is worth remembering that several other factors could cause a plant to survive herbicide treatment; it may not always be due to resistance.

Other factors which must be eliminated first include:

  • Application problems
  • Rain after application
  • Too cold or too dry for herbicides to work
  • Germination from outside the zone of activity (pre-ems)

Resistance development at the genetic level

The repeated use of herbicides with the same mode of action has led to the evolution of resistant weed populations, but herbicides themselves are not to blame for causing resistance.

Natural gene mutations occur spontaneously in all plants and have the potential to change how proteins function. It is largely down to chance where any mutation strikes and how it alters that gene.

Inheriting resistance

The evolution and spread of herbicide resistance through subsequent generations is best explained by the Mendel theory of inheritance.

During the breeding process, the 2 alleles segregate during gamete production, with 1 allele going to the male part (pollen grain) and the other to the female ovum. If different alleles are present then 50% of gametes receive the dominant resistant allele while 50% receive the recessive susceptible allele.

Field-scale development and spread

During herbicide treatment, the active ingredient will only be effective against those individuals which are susceptible. Those which are resistant will survive treatment and be free to set seed and reproduce in following seasons.

Because black-grass is a cross-pollinating species, resistant genes can therefore be spread aerially in pollen, as well as via seed return in the soil.

Once resistant plants have established within a field, it can be relatively easy for seeds from these plants to be picked up and moved within the field by cultivation, harvesting or baling equipment.

Long-distance development and spread

It is possible for seeds from resistant plants to be picked up and transported longer distances by machinery, straw and manure, slurries or digestate, moving between fields or farms which can result in a wider geographic spread of resistant individuals.

 

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Tackling grass-weeds like no other, herbicides Liberator and Proclus work together in one tank mix with three modes of action to protect your winter wheat and barley yield against black-grass, ryegrass, brome and a host of broad leaf weeds. All with the reassurance of a robust herbicide resistance management strategy - Find out more

 

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