AN INTEGRATED approach is critical in getting successful whole of farm weed control.
That is the message of a Wimmera farmer in the lead-up to this year's Weed Smart Week event, to be held this year in Horsham, Victoria.
Ian Ruwoldt attended last year's Weed Smart event at Narrabri, NSW and said there were six key principles that can help drive the weed burden down and keep it low.
The six tactics, including a mixture of chemical and non-chemical controls are:
1. Crop and pasture rotation
2. Double knock to protect glyphosate
3. Mix and rotate herbicide groups
4. Stop weed seed set
5. Crop competition
6. Harvest weed seed control
Mr Ruwoldt said the Weed Smart week event, to be held from August 27 to 29, was a good way to learn practical ways to stop the spread of weeds, which are often the biggest factor constraining crop yield.
Together with brother Greg, Mr Ruwoldt farms at Kewell, between Horsham and Warracknabeal.
He said the farm had a number of problem weeds to manage, including ryegrass, bedstraw, marshmallow, vetch and bifora.
"We currently use oaten hay, chemical rotation, imidazolinone (imi) chemistry with canola and a chaff deck on the harvester to keep weed numbers low," Mr Ruwoldt said.
"Thinking about the Weed Smart Big 6 helps to formulate a plan to manage weeds through the year and through the rotation."
"The forum covers a lot of topics and the discussions are very practical and very relevant to the region, so this year's event will focus on the weed issues facing Wimmera and Mallee farmers."
Attendees will have several opportunities to see and discuss cutting-edge technologies such as optical sprayers, robots and emerging 'green-on-green' spray sensors, and will find out how other growers in the region are implementing the Big 6 weed management tactics.
The growers, agronomists and researchers speaking and participating in expert panels at the Day 1 forum will spark important discussions about herbicide resistance and how the Big 6 tactics can be used to target the weed species and farming systems in the southern cropping region.
More information and registration at https://weedsmart.org.au/weedsmart-week-horsham/