# Horseweed(marestail) control in alfalfa



## FarmerCline (Oct 12, 2011)

Was looking at my alfalfa today and checking to see if I had many winter annual weeds and would need to spray and I noticed a fair amount of horseweed rosettes. What is best to use in alfalfa to kill horseweed? Will 2,4db take care of it?


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## Vol (Jul 5, 2009)

FarmerCline said:


> Was looking at my alfalfa today and checking to see if I had many winter annual weeds and would need to spray and I noticed a fair amount of horseweed rosettes. What is best to use in alfalfa to kill horseweed? Will 2,4db take care of it?


I would try it....supposedly DB works best in very early weed stages...does not list Mares on the label. It may slow it down enough to get shaded out by your alfalfa.

Regards, Mike


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## FarmerCline (Oct 12, 2011)

Vol said:


> I would try it....supposedly DB works best in very early weed stages...does not list Mares on the label. It may slow it down enough to get shaded out by your alfalfa.
> 
> Regards, Mike


 I know regular 2,4d will smoke horseweed just don't know if the db will as well.....it seems that there are far fewer weeds that are on the label that db will kill. Pursuit or raptor could be other possibilities but horseweed isn't on the label for those either.


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## NDVA HAYMAN (Nov 24, 2009)

Hayden, One thing is for sure, if you don't get them while they are small, you are screwed!


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## FarmerCline (Oct 12, 2011)

It should be finally dry enough for me to spray my alfalfa tomorrow without tracking up the ground. I decided to try 2,4db. I went to pick some up today and the only thing they had was butyrac 175 which does not have alfalfa listed in the label. Butyrac 200 was what I looked at online......alfalfa is listed in the label for it. I compared the active ingredients of both and the only difference was the 175 had a little less 2,4db than the 200 had. In theory if I increased the rate per acre of the 175 enough to equal the same amount of 2,4db that the 200 has it would make no difference which I used......but that does not explain why the 175 doesn't have alfalfa as a labeled crop. I just don't want to damage my alfalfa by using the wrong thing. I can order butyrac 200 but I really need to spray tomorrow before it rains again Thursday. Any thoughts?


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## PaCustomBaler (Nov 29, 2010)

I always heard of using Butyrac 200, not the 175 but I'm not too "up and up" on the alfalfa herbicides. I'd maybe throw some ionic surfactant in with it to make sure that stuff gets stuck onto those leaves good for a nice burn.

Sure would be nice if we could get the sprayer out...still has been too cold even to drain the winterizer out of it.  I'm starting to get the itch!


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## FarmerCline (Oct 12, 2011)

I managed to find some butyrac 200 in gallon jugs and sprayed yesterday. Most likely the butyrac 175 would have been fine to use but I just didn't want to chance it. This stuff isn't cheap for $42 a gallon and 2 quarts an acre.....hope it kills the marestail.


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## FarmerCline (Oct 12, 2011)

Thought I would give an update......been 5 days since I sprayed the 2,4db and the marestail is showing all the signs of being sprayed with regular 2,4d.....deformed and curling up.......keeping my fingers crossed but I think it is going to kill it or stunt it enough that it won't amount to anything. There appears to be no injury to the alfalfa except for a little curling of the stems in the wheel tracks of the sprayer.


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