Sunflower safe herbicides

[tomildinio]

Pre emerge didn't work of pdm as was too dry. Too hot and dry for kerb and that didn't work.
Now have a lovely crop of fat hen, sow thistle, chickweed and knotweed.
Graminicides are OK but need something for broadleaves. Was reading in Canada they us salsa, the osr herbicide? Anyone any ideas?
Much obliged.

 

[warksfarmer]

Pre emerge didn't work of pdm as was too dry. Too hot and dry for kerb and that didn't work.
Now have a lovely crop of fat hen, sow thistle, chickweed and knotweed.
Graminicides are OK but need something for broadleaves. Was reading in Canada they us salsa, the osr herbicide? Anyone any ideas?
Much obliged.

No help to you but got a friend growing them commercially in France for many years, stopped last year to the ever increasing weed burden. I’ll message him for you and see what he’s tried.

 

[Farmer Roy]

Australian info, for what it’s worth.
Unfortunately, there aren’t many options for in crop control of broad leaves. It’s mainly about rotations, weed control in previous crops, clean fallows, pre emergents etc. As we grow them on wide rows ( 75 cm - 1m ), inter row cultivation or shielded spraying is always an option before they get too tall

https://grdc.com.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0021/370614/GrowNote-Sunflower-North-06-Weeds.pdf

pics are my sunnies

 

[Farmer Roy]

Too late now, but sunnies are a lot better grown under zero till. Apart from better moisture conservation, the less soil disturbance & high levels of groundcover / mulch means less weed seeds germinating

 

[Farmer Roy]

PS - I dunno about your regulations, but here you are only allowed to use chemicals that are approved for that crop & only those crops and rates that are on the drum label. Just because something works in Canada, certainly doesn’t mean we can use it on sunflowers here, unless it is registered & approved for use here, for example . . .

 

[deleted user 837354]

Pre emerge didn't work of pdm as was too dry. Too hot and dry for kerb and that didn't work.
Now have a lovely crop of fat hen, sow thistle, chickweed and knotweed.
Graminicides are OK but need something for broadleaves. Was reading in Canada they us salsa, the osr herbicide? Anyone any ideas?
Much obliged.

As I understand it, BLW control in sunflowers is problematic which is why one of the big agchem companies introduced clearfield sunflowers which were tolerant of cleranda.

 

[Farmer Roy]

As I understand it, BLW control in sunflowers is problematic which is why one of the big agchem companies introduced clearfield sunflowers which were tolerant of cleranda.

as I said, broadleaf control is all about crop rotations, previous history, clean fallows & zero till establishment

you certainly wouldn’t plant sunnies in a field with a history of broadleaf weeds, without having a Plan B ( such as inter row cultivation or shielded spraying )

 

[tomildinio]

I didn't precision sow these. Just sowed with regular drill. They are for people to look at and take Instagrams. Which wouldn't be great the way they are now!
It's a pain!

 

[AndrewM]

dont think salsa ever got through registration here.
i cant see anything onlable or eamu for post-em in suflowers. think you best get the hoe out.
for next year, i can see Emerger aclonifen has an emau for pre-em black bindweed, chickweed, cleavers , crane's-bill, fat hen , knotgrass, mayweed, nettle , oil seed rape, redshank , shepherd's purse , sow thistle, speedwell

 

[tomildinio]

dont think salsa ever got through registration here.
i cant see anything onlable or eamu for post-em in suflowers. think you best get the hoe out.
for next year, i can see Emerger aclonifen has an emau for pre-em black bindweed, chickweed, cleavers , crane's-bill, fat hen , knotgrass, mayweed, nettle , oil seed rape, redshank , shepherd's purse , sow thistle, speedwell

Thanks everyone for the info. The harrowing is going to be very tricky! Might just try some foliar grub and see if the sunflowers can out compete the weeds.

 

[nxy]

I have never done it but have heard of people round here using 1 to 1.5 litres of Challenge 600 (Alconifen) post emergence up to 6 pairs of leaves either on its own or with low doses of Novall (metazachlore + quinmerac) or Pendimethalin. How big are the sunflowers? I think people have said the bigger the plant the bigger the risk.

 

[nxy]

Too late now, but sunnies are a lot better grown under zero till. Apart from better moisture conservation, the less soil disturbance & high levels of groundcover / mulch means less weed seeds germinating

Funny you say this, both in trials and on farm sunflowers really do not do well here if direct drilled.

Terres Inovia (our main research body for oilseeds) pretty strongly say the soil needs moving to 20cm plus due to their weak rooting.

 

[Badshot]

Funny you say this, both in trials and on farm sunflowers really do not do well here if direct drilled.

Terres Inovia (our main research body for oilseeds) pretty strongly say the soil needs moving to 20cm plus due to their weak rooting.

But is that trial in long term DD land, or dding into ground that's been cultivated normally, then DD that time only.
It makes a huge difference.

I dd sunflowers as cover crops in the autumn, seem to grow pretty well, but obviously I have no harvesting data

 

[nxy]

But is that trial in long term DD land, or dding into ground that's been cultivated normally, then DD that time only.
It makes a huge difference.

I dd sunflowers as cover crops in the autumn, seem to grow pretty well, but obviously I have no harvesting data

I don't know what they base it on but they say don't direct drill. In their crop guide they say "Sunflowers like fine, well-structured soils with a warm seedbed. The practice of direct sowing does not appear to be suitable for planting sunflowers." They back this up with pictures of sunflower tap roots with 90 degree bends in them.

I don't have a direct drill but we have drilled them with a vaderstad rapid into ground moved shallow using a vaderstad carrier and they weren't great. Though perhaps "double discs" was part of the problem.

The difference could be because we are trying to get them in in good time, ideally April, to bring our harvest date forward so the ground is often colder and wetter than would be ideal. This would be less of a problem if they were planted later with no intention of harvesting or in the warm/dry soil of Australia.

 

[Badshot]

I don't know what they base it on but they say don't direct drill. In their crop guide they say "Sunflowers like fine, well-structured soils with a warm seedbed. The practice of direct sowing does not appear to be suitable for planting sunflowers." They back this up with pictures of sunflower tap roots with 90 degree bends in them.

I don't have a direct drill but we have drilled them with a vaderstad rapid into ground moved shallow using a vaderstad carrier and they weren't great. Though perhaps "double discs" was part of the problem.

The difference could be because we are trying to get them in in good time, ideally April, to bring our harvest date forward so the ground is often colder and wetter than would be ideal. This would be less of a problem if they were planted later with no intention of harvesting or in the warm/dry soil of Australia.

What you describe is typical of crops grown in soil with fresh compaction.
Any crop will do that in those circumstances.
Our pgro (pulse growers) will say the same about beans.
I've been growing them for years no till now.
They are a match for any other beans in the area.
Wet ground is a no no, but you'd find they grow like mad to catch up from being a bit later planted.

Mine were planted in the first week of August, flowering by end of October.
The sheep loved them.
I'm not brave enough to try to grow for harvest here though, were not warm enough.