Over 300 people influencing greater than 23,000 farms and 6,700,000 acres responded to various questions including crops grown, production practices, and weeds most difficult to control.
Survey results from Pest Management Update Series in Wisconsin
Mark Renz
Extension Weed Scientist
Being new to Wisconsin I thought the Pest Management Update Series (held at eight locations throughout Wisconsin) was an excellent opportunity to survey the audience of producers, crop consultants, and agricultural business clientele. Over 300 people influencing greater than 23,000 farms and 6,700,000 acres responded to various questions including crops grown, production practices, and weeds most difficult to control. Attendees included the ag-chemical industry (38%) crop consultants (37%), ag-business (27%), producers (17%) and other various federal, state and local agency personnel (19%). Alfalfa (forages), CRP and pasture cropping systems were emphasized in the survey since this is my area of focus.
Results varied by region and crop/area throughout the state. In general perennial weeds were listed as the most difficult weeds to control in these areas with Canada thistle, quackgrass, and white cockle/campion receiving the most “votes” across all areas. These results likely don’t come as a surprise to many as these weeds have been present in Wisconsin for > 25 years and have always been rated as difficult to control weeds (Doll and Kleiber 1994). What is intriguing is that quackgrass’ ranking slipped from 1st to 3rd based on this survey compared to a similar one done in 1994 (Doll and Kleiber 1994). This may be due to the availability of roundup ready crops which have improved our ability to manage many of these difficult perennials weeds such as quackgrass.
I also polled the group as to what areas they needed additional assistance with regards to weed management. The results were quite varied; people wanted assistance in improving their ability to select appropriate herbicides for application (62%), selecting the most appropriate management method (60%), developing long-term management plans (60%), determining economic thresholds for weed species (51%), and identifying weeds (49%). Most attendees wanted to receive information created to address these problems by either 1-2 page fact-sheets (71%) or on a website (63%). Results are summarized below according to crop/area.
Alfalfa
Over 95 % of attendees indicated that they grew or consulted on farms that grew alfalfa. Weed management practices during establishment consisted of herbicides (90%) by most attendees, but only 50% continued to use herbicides after the establishment year. Other major management methods utilized once alfalfa was established were mowing (75%) and crop rotation (58%). Fields tended to be rotated within 3 to 4 years by most people (84% of those surveyed). White cockle/campion was viewed as the most difficult weed to control in alfalfa as it received a vote from 56% of the attendees. Quackgrass (45%), plantain species (42%) and Canada thistle (32%) were also ranked among the top four difficult weeds to control in alfalfa. Much interest and discussion was on Roundup Ready Alfalfa and its current and future use within Wisconsin. Over 39% of attendees worked with Roundup Ready Alfalfa in the 2006 season, and many feel the added technology fee is affordable for our production system (30%), with about 20% still undecided.
Conservation Reserve Program (CRP)
Over half of the audience works with CRP land in Wisconsin. Attendees managed these lands primarily by mowing (60%) and herbicides (43%), but many used other methods such as grazing (16%), cultivation (12%) and burning (10%). It was no surprise that the most common difficult weed to control was Canada thistle (46%) followed closely by volunteer trees (44%), biennial thistles (44%), and burdock (33%). The restrictions in timings and frequency of weed management in CRP likely allow the successful establishment of biennials and perennial such as these described above.
Pastures
Nearly 65 % of attendees were involved with pasture production. Within pastures, herbicides (65%), grazing (63%) and mowing (55%) were most commonly used for weed management by attendees with only 17% relying on rotation to another crop for weed management. Difficult weeds to control varied widely by region, with southern areas having Multiflora rose topping their lists (Platteville 82%, Janesville 52%), but overall Canada thistle (72%) and biennial thistles (67%) were the most problematic statewide.
Doll, J.D. and D.J. Kleiber. 1994. Results of the 1994 Survey on Perennial Weeds. University of Wisconsin Extension Service Agronomy Advice.