Crop competition – give your crops the edge

The uncomfortable truth is that in many paddocks the weeds are winning the battles for space and resources.

Growing crops that out-compete weeds gives a double whammy benefit of more crop and less weeds — generating more profit!

Try some or all of these ideas to give your cropping system the competitive advantage:

• Get the soil pH right and do what you can to improve overall crop nutrition
• Set up your planter to sow crops on the narrowest row configuration possible within the other constraints of crop production
• Sow within the optimal planting window for the crop and your location
• Choose the most competitive crop type (e.g. barley over wheat) and the most competitive variety or hybrid of your chosen crop
• Select crops with early vigorous growth
• Set the crop up for success with optimal weed control prior to planting, using double knock tactics and effective pre-emergent herbicides
• Sow east-west rather than north-south if you can
• Use sowing rates at the upper end of the recommended range for the crop

And here’s more advice from the WeedSmart crop competition experts:

• Can planting a tight crop improve weed control?
• Use your crop as a weapon
• Using your crop to fight weeds
• Webinar with Prof Deirdre Lemerle: Using your crop to fight weeds 
• Up the competition
• Employ crop competitiveness to combat weeds
• Higher seeding rates lower weeds 
• Narrow row spacing: is it worth going back?
• AHRI insight: Sow west young man
• AHRI insight: Left jab, right hook
• AHRI insight: Heal thy soil, heal thy crops, kill thy weeds