# Spraying early for weeds



## JD3430 (Jan 1, 2012)

Was fertilizing fields yesterday looking at the plethora of weeds getting ready to lighten my bank account. 
The company I use to fertilize and spray won't even touch my fields for weeds for another month. By then they'll be big and have a nice thick waxy coating on them. Seemed like to me THIS is the time to hit them, when they're 8" tall. Then hit the patches of dogbane, milkweed later in summer, even if I did it with a backpack sprayer. 
What height are weeds when you first spray?


----------



## Vol (Jul 5, 2009)

Depends on the weed....but the earlier in growth stage you spray, usually the easier the weeds are to kill. Typically I like to spray when the weeds are 3 inches and under....but not always possible due to ground being too wet for traffic or too dry(droughty) which results in a poor response by some weeds.

Regards, Mike


----------



## JD3430 (Jan 1, 2012)

My guy wants to spray late may. They're 2' tall by then!


----------



## rjmoses (Apr 4, 2010)

Talked to FS yesterday about spraying alfalfa weevils here rather than doing it myself.

My thinking was that they could get across my fields with their 120' boom easier than I could with a 30' boom.

They said they won't spray alfalfa anymore. They have all their equipment tied up with spraying for corn and beans and it takes them 2 hours to do a tank clean out. And, with the weather, they said that it will be a real tight time for them when the ground dries out.

They did agree to sell me the insecticide. Hmmmmm.

Ralph


----------



## dbergh (Jun 3, 2010)

rjmoses said:


> Talked to FS yesterday about spraying alfalfa weevils here rather than doing it myself.
> 
> My thinking was that they could get across my fields with their 120' boom easier than I could with a 30' boom.
> 
> ...


Wow! You gotta love that kind of customer service (not).!!!!


----------



## endrow (Dec 15, 2011)

JD3430 said:


> Was fertilizing fields yesterday looking at the plethora of weeds getting ready to lighten my bank account.
> The company I use to fertilize and spray won't even touch my fields for weeds for another month. By then they'll be big and have a nice thick waxy coating on them. Seemed like to me THIS is the time to hit them, when they're 8" tall. Then hit the patches of dogbane, milkweed later in summer, even if I did it with a backpack sprayer.
> What height are weeds when you first spray?


you need to spray now so the grass can tiller out and grow We would never spray after april 30th we want 30 days between spray and harvest


----------



## JD3430 (Jan 1, 2012)

Agree. I'm not spraying that late. I have to find a sprayer real soon. Never should have sold my 3pt sprayer, even though it was a beast to hook up (thats why I sold it, BTW)


----------



## deadmoose (Oct 30, 2011)

Clouds would help you spray. HERE. WITH SNOW!!!


----------



## RockmartGA (Jun 29, 2011)

JD3430 said:


> Seemed like to me THIS is the time to hit them, when they're 8" tall.


I agree with that statement. Waiting until later often means you have allowed certain weeds to go to seed, which in turn means more weed problems in the future.

Here in Ga, I've usually sprayed by now. This year has seen unseasonably cool weather so everything has gotten pushed back 2-3 weeks. I'm looking at the weather forecast to determine if I can spray today...


----------

