Weed control will be a real challenge in the 2020 growing season with saturated soils and the record amount of prevented plant acres in 2019. SDSU Extension Weed Science Coordinator Paul Johnson says farmers lost several years of weed control last season because weeds went to seed. Farmers just couldn’t get into many prevented plant or wet fields to make herbicide applications.

He says many farmers were also unable to do any mechanical control of weeds, even this fall because fields were too wet.

Johnson says that means farmers will need to put extra time and money into their weed control programs for the 2020 season.

Johnson says applying pre-emergent herbicides will be difficult in areas that haven’t harvested corn or where fields will be wet again this spring.