I am of the view that dd autocast and some spring crops reduces bg
imho residuel sprays work better in a no till seed bed as weeds have shallow roots and do not come from depth
I have one block of land that has very low bg now but had plenty of bg in the 1990s
the last 14 years cropping
spring rape spring linseed wwheat rape dd wheat min till rape autocast wheat min till rape autocast wheat mintill winter beans sub tilled (elimination of bg by using crawler )wheat dd rape subtill s barley autumn min till spring bean dd
in 5 years time I will know better
imho dd /very shallow min till or plough to reduce bg
the maxi till systems make bg worse as it germinates from depth all through the season
low crop plant populations also allow some bg to seed every year especially in rape on the heaviest land
"I have one block of land that has very low bg now but had plenty of bg in the 1990s"
Funny you should say that, where I used to have a blackgrass problem 15 years ago it is now almost non existent, but I have it in other places now. Pretty damn sure some is coming from the neighbour as two fields that border him both have it that side but not the other. You could almost turf his at the minute too.
There still seem to be two separate issus though and get treated as the same. One being herbicide efficiency and the other being germination depth. Fair comment or not?
I live in hope then."One years weeds, seven years weeds"
That's what they used to say, but it is referring to conventional tillage farming. In no-till I find that one years seeds only results in ONE years weeds. If the seeds are left on the surface they will never stay dormant until the following year, something will happen to them, whether they grow, rot or get eaten. If you are successful and have no seed return one year, you may get some previous years seeds germinate from just below the surface due to cracking or other shallow disturbance the next year, but I have found that if I get two consecutive years without and blackgrass seed being produced, I then have a blackgrass free field.
so if by ploughing properly(not many ploughmen good enough on heavy land can do it well enough ) and not allowing any bg seeds to break through then notill bg could be beaten"One years weeds, seven years weeds"
That's what they used to say, but it is referring to conventional tillage farming. In no-till I find that one years seeds only results in ONE years weeds. If the seeds are left on the surface they will never stay dormant until the following year, something will happen to them, whether they grow, rot or get eaten. If you are successful and have no seed return one year, you may get some previous years seeds germinate from just below the surface due to cracking or other shallow disturbance the next year, but I have found that if I get two consecutive years without and blackgrass seed being produced, I then have a blackgrass free field.
You know far more than me about dd'ing but I would agree totally with that, keep it on the surface,but must follow a policy to kill 100% in the first few years to allow no seed return, even if that means pulling the last few by hand each season"One years weeds, seven years weeds"
That's what they used to say, but it is referring to conventional tillage farming. In no-till I find that one years seeds only results in ONE years weeds. If the seeds are left on the surface they will never stay dormant until the following year, something will happen to them, whether they grow, rot or get eaten. If you are successful and have no seed return one year, you may get some previous years seeds germinate from just below the surface due to cracking or other shallow disturbance the next year, but I have found that if I get two consecutive years without and blackgrass seed being produced, I then have a blackgrass free field.