# Hen Bit Outbreak.



## Vol (Jul 5, 2009)

I am having a terrible outbreak of hen bit in a fall/spring grass planting. The grasses that I spring planted(Timothy/Orchard) are in the 3-4 tiller stage. I am unsure with what herbicide to use that will not affect hay with long term residuals....like Grazon, Remedy, etc. The herbs that I normally use, 2-4d etc., fair poorly on hen bit. Am I overlooking something for treatment.

I think that the hen bit got too much of a late fall germination jump due to the very slow fall germination of my grass seed due to the excessive drought that we were under at the time of seeding.

Regards, Mike


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## FarmerCline (Oct 12, 2011)

I have the same problem with henbit and vetch this spring in my fall planted/February replanted orchard grass. I didn't want to use anything with long residuals so I sprayed a pint of Clarity last Thursday.....haven't been back yet to the field to see how it is working. It should work well on the vetch.....not so sure about the henbit since it was rather large and blooming.


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## Grateful11 (Apr 5, 2009)

We've been seeing entire fields covered with the stuff but mainly on the fields where the folks are doing no-till. It's worse this year than we've ever seen it.


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## rjmoses (Apr 4, 2010)

Grateful11 said:


> We've been seeing entire fields covered with the stuff but mainly on the fields where the folks are doing no-till. It's worse this year than we've ever seen it.


Simple: mild winter.

Ralph


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## Hayman1 (Jul 6, 2013)

We have a heavy crop here as well. Spraying with cimaron as soon as we can get on the ground. Have to cut the new OG once before applying a full dose so the new fields won't really get control. No residual. Grazon will smoke it but I am trying to not use residuals this year. Cimmaron will work but it is slow acting. Plan to spray every field with it this mid-October to get ahead of the game for next year.


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## Vol (Jul 5, 2009)

I bought some RangeStar today for treatment....(2-4d/dicamba) formerly known as Weedmaster.

Says on the label it will kill hen bit.....and to limit to two pints per acre on seedling hay.

Regards, Mike


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## Hayman1 (Jul 6, 2013)

Vol said:


> I bought some RangeStar today for treatment....(2-4d/dicamba) formerly known as Weedmaster.
> 
> Says on the label it will kill hen bit.....and to limit to two pints per acre on seedling hay.
> 
> Regards, Mike


Mike-let me know how that works-henbit and chickweed are a constant struggle here in new stands. Rick


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## VA Haymaker (Jul 1, 2014)

Vol said:


> I bought some RangeStar today for treatment....(2-4d/dicamba) formerly known as Weedmaster.
> 
> Says on the label it will kill hen bit.....and to limit to two pints per acre on seedling hay.
> 
> Regards, Mike


Didn't realize there was a generic to Weedmaster. I had planned on using it this year in my herbicide rotation. Where are you finding it?


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## Vol (Jul 5, 2009)

leeave96 said:


> Didn't realize there was a generic to Weedmaster. I had planned on using it this year in my herbicide rotation. Where are you finding it?


Get it at my local co op.

Regards, Mike

http://co.sanders.mt.us/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/WC_Range-Star-Weedmaster.pdf


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## FarmerCline (Oct 12, 2011)

Went yesterday and checked the orchard grass that I sprayed with Clarity last week. It smoked the vetch but hasn't killed the henbit but it did made it sick and it has stopped growing.....maybe it will give the orchard a chance to get ahead of it. It appears like it it worked a little better than 2,4d would have.


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## Vol (Jul 5, 2009)

FarmerCline said:


> Went yesterday and checked the orchard grass that I sprayed with Clarity last week. It smoked the vetch but hasn't killed the henbit but it did made it sick and it has stopped growing.....maybe it will give the orchard a chance to get ahead of it. It appears like it it worked a little better than 2,4d would have.


Hen bit can be very slow to die, so it may need some more time.

Regards, Mike


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## Hayman1 (Jul 6, 2013)

Vol said:


> Hen bit can be very slow to die, so it may need some more time.
> 
> Regards, Mike


yeah,Cimmaron takes forever but it all dies. Sprayed all my ground Thursday. Now we wait and hope.


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## Vol (Jul 5, 2009)

Hayman1 said:


> Mike-let me know how that works-henbit and chickweed are a constant struggle here in new stands. Rick


I sprayed the Rangestar yesterday morning....today I could not really see the purple(flowering) from a distance like I could yesterday so I went down there....it has flat smoked the hen bit and everything else broadleaf. It looks like it is going to work even better than I hoped. I put down 2 pints per acre on a seedling stand of grass....it recommended 3 pints per acre on hen bit but only 2 pints if it was a seedling grass stand. I am really surprised at how it has laid the weeds down.

Regards, Mike


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## Hayman1 (Jul 6, 2013)

Vol said:


> I sprayed the Rangestar yesterday morning....today I could not really see the purple(flowering) from a distance like I could yesterday so I went down there....it has flat smoked the hen bit and everything else broadleaf. It looks like it is going to work even better than I hoped. I put down 2 pints per acre on a seedling stand of grass....it recommended 3 pints per acre on hen bit but only 2 pints if it was a seedling grass stand. I am really surprised at how it has laid the weeds down.
> 
> Regards, Mike


must be a lot warmer at your place than here. I have never had much luck with 24d and banvel in late march-early april.


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## Vol (Jul 5, 2009)

Hayman1 said:


> must be a lot warmer at your place than here. I have never had much luck with 24d and banvel in late march-early april.


low eighties...

Regards, Mike


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## Vol (Jul 5, 2009)

Regards, Mike


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## Vol (Jul 5, 2009)

Hayman1 said:


> I have never had much luck with 24d and banvel in late march-early april.


I have had great success spraying 2-4d here the end of February and all of March. I suppose you use Lo V ester early on? All we need here is 3 successive days with temperatures into 60° and that induces the weed to take on the chemical.

Regards, Mike


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## VA Haymaker (Jul 1, 2014)

Vol said:


> Regards, Mike


Wow - that's a lot of weeds!

Do you have any wild onions in the mix and is Rangestar taking care of those?


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## Vol (Jul 5, 2009)

No onions in this particular field.

Regards, Mike


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## Hayman1 (Jul 6, 2013)

Vol said:


> I have had great success spraying 2-4d here the end of February and all of March. I suppose you use Lo V ester early on? All we need here is 3 successive days with temperatures into 60° and that induces the weed to take on the chemical.
> 
> Regards, Mike


yes, my experience is it both the night time and day time temps. Maybe henbit is day length sensitive and you just have warmer temps than we do at the same day length. Even when it gets to 60, if it was 35 the night before, plants are sluggish. So we typically get the warmer days with rainfall and you get the picture.


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