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On this edition of the podcast, we’re focusing on controlling herbicide resistant ryegrass.
We’ll hear from grower Murray Scholz (pictured above), who is based in Culcairn, NSW. Murray and wife Emma are having a real win with grazing to keep ryegrass at bay.
We’ll also be hearing from University of Adelaide’s Dr Peter Boutsalis. Peter will provide an update on clethodim resistance and share some practical tips on how to keep on top of ryegrass.
Dr Peter Boutsalis
Resources
GRDC Adjuvant Guide (Peter Boutsalis recommended on the podcast)
New WeedSmart Content
Article: Chaff carts were made for feeding livestock
Ask an Expert: How can I set up my summer crops to help manage weeds?
Video: Rod Birch on how the Big 6 is keeping weeds at bay at Catalina Farms
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Catalina Farms is approximately 13,000 ha of 100% cropping, with 65% wheat, with the other 35% comprising of 20% canola and 15% lupins. The longterm rainfall is about 330ml per year and around 250-280ml of growing season rainfall.
Taking on a new property usually has its challenges, but there can be upsides too. Some of the challenges at Koobabbie were related to the fact it had been a livestock property and cropping machinery had never having been run through it. However, Rod explained that they have had some great news about the herbicides they are able to use.
Through the University of Western Australia’s resistance testing service, run by Dr Roberto Busi at AHRI, they found out some older chemistries were still effective, which was a pleasant surprise. Daniel Birch explains below in the Regional Update Podcast what they found out and how they used this information in their planning.

Video breakdown

1:10 Crop rotations – Rod’s favourite rotation is Lupins – wheat – canola – wheat. It provides a lot of diversity for Modes of Action, as well as allows for nitrogen to go back into the soil through the lupin phase.
2:10 Crop Competition – the Birches are big fans of crop competition and it’s an essential part of their approach to controlling weeds.
3:00 Double knock – conditions haven’t been suitable for a double knock since 2016, but when the opportunity arises, it’s an important tool.
4:21 Mix and rotate herbicides – the crop rotations used at Catalina allow for really diverse chemical groups to be used, which is a great tactic to keep resistance at bay.
5:52 Stopping weed seed set – the Birches are trying to eliminate as many weeds in the crop as possible. Crop topping is a tool that they employ, as well as late spraying where necessary.
6:49 Harvest weed seed control – seed destruction is on the horizon at Catalina, but logistically has been a bit tricky.
7:21 Acquiring Koobabbie – it has been exciting for the Birches to be able to introduce more diverse rotations. They’ve been able to use Modes of Action which have never been used before.
9:48 Soil amelioration  – liming has been a really beneficial tool for Catalina Farms. They also put out pot ash and gypsum. Deep ripping has also been a great tool to remove the compaction layer.
11:29 Big 6 benefits  – controlling weeds is such an important strategy at Catalina Farms. Rod Birch said “We’ll never have a ceasefire on the war on weeds!”.

List of videos

Interviews with the Esperance Pioneers. Chair: Lisa Mayer, interviewing Neil Wandel & Theo Oorschot
Rotating buys you Time, mixing buys you shots
Efficacious use of the new pre-ems, Brent Pritchard
Delivering regionally focused research
Crop competition in wheat and canola, Hugh Beckie
Summer weed control
Strategies for control of ryegrass, marshmallow, fleabane, portulaca, Greg Warren
Farmer Experience
Rotations to stop seed set and preserve chemistry, Tom Longmire
Soil Amelioration, Tom Edwards
Crop competition: Reduced row spacing, higher seeding rates, east-west sowing, precision seed placement & competitive varieties, Theo Oorschot
Farmer Experience – Utilising crop competition strategies and the Big 6, Mic Fels
Weed control – farmer systems discussion panel – Chair: Peter Newman, with Mark Wandel and Laura Bennett
What’s next in spray technology? Andrew Messina
What’s next in spray technology 2? Guillaume Jourdain
Innovation Panel – Chair: Ben White, with Guillaume Jourdain, Andrew Messina
Stacking the Big 6 in farming systems in WA presented by Greg Condon, with Peter Newman

On this edition of the podcast, we’re going to chat to the Northern Grower Alliance CEO, Richard Daniel about the results they got from survey they recently did on optical spraying. Some of the results were quite surprising, especially when it came to how farmers were using the sprayers.
We also hear from Cotton Australia Chair, Hamish McIntyre. He explains why the Round-Up Ready Xtend Crop System from Bayer is so important for cotton growers. Hamish also provides some context around why ensuring the stewardship of this product is so essential.
News & Links
We’ve got a new article on kicking the herbicide habit. We look at how random weed surveys are continuing to identify an increasing trend in herbicide resistance across broadacre cropping regions in Australia. Dr Peter Boutsalis & Dr John Broster provide comment here.
WeedSmart Week 
Just a reminder that tickets are now able to be purchased for Esperance WeedSmart Week. The early bird price of $190 ends on July 31 and then goes up to $250 after this, so if you’re planning on going, get your tickets sooner rather than later for a discount!
You can get your tickets here.
Twitter and Facebook
Don’t forget to follow us on Twitter and Facebook. We post seasonally relevant information on weed control & promote good discussion.
You can also sign-up for our monthly blog, the WeedSmart Whip Around. Our content from the last month is featured, so it’s easy to get to all the latest news in one spot.

In this webinar, we focus on what factors influence the residual control of weeds by pre-emergent herbicides with a focus on Trifluralin, Sakura and new-to-market herbicides.
Join Chris Davey, YPAG and WeedSmart Extension Agronomist and Mark Congreve, ICAN Senior Agronomist as they assess the sowing issues in South Australia and discuss strategies on using pre-emergents.
Factors covered include

Soil type/texture
Rainfall forecast (after application)
Characteristics of the herbicide
Characteristics of the crop
Sowing time (tine vs disc) – sowing depth, speed, soil throw, stubble
Resistance status

GRDC Spray Application Manual
This Spray Application GrowNotes™ manual provides information on how various spraying systems and components work, along with those factors that the operator should consider to ensure the sprayer is operating to its full potential.
This manual focuses on issues that will assist in maintaining the accuracy of the sprayer output while improving the efficiency and safety of spraying operations. It contains many useful tips for your spray operations.

 
Back in February and March of 2020 Tim had some summer rain and decided to look at the weeds not the temperature. If the weeds weren’t moisture stressed he kept spraying all day even when it was hot. He had some great results which we’ll get into in this podcast.
We’ll also be hearing from Nufarm’s André Sabeeney and Mitch Allen about their new product Terrad’or.
Terrad’or is a new Group G herbicide from Nufarm. This product is best partnered with glyphosate as a knockdown spike or mixed with paraquat for double knock application.
Spray Application Manual
The GRDC has published an excellent spraying manual you can access.
This Spray Application GrowNotes™ manual provides information on how various spraying systems and components work, along with those factors that the operator should consider to ensure the sprayer is operating to its full potential.
This manual focuses on issues that will assist in maintaining the accuracy of the sprayer output while improving the efficiency and safety of spraying operations. It contains many useful tips for your spray operations.
The manual includes information on sprayer set-up, including self-propelled sprayers, new tools for determining sprayer outputs, suggestions for assessing spray coverage in the field, improving droplet capture by the target, drift-reducing equipment and techniques, the effects of adjuvant and nozzle type on drift potential, and surface temperature inversion research.
Get the details here.
Regional Update
Our next Regional Update will come out next Monday and is with Research Officer Catherine Borger from the Department of Agriculture and Food Western Australia.
You can ensure you don’t miss it by subscribing to the podcast on your app of choice.
New content
Our latest Ask an Expert is “How can I maximise grass weed control using hybrid canola?”
EPAG Research agronomist, Andrew Ware answers the question and says the results of six years of trial work across the southern growing region with GRDC investment has demonstrated how important crop nutrition and time of sowing are for maximising canola vigour and yield.
Read it here.
Also, don’t miss our latest Case Study on Single family, Coonamble NSW. Tony and Sharon Single farm with Tony’s parents John and Mary, south east of Coonamble in northern NSW with views of the Warrumbungle Range.
Across the 4500 ha cropping area at ‘Narratigah’, the weed numbers are low as a result of the Single’s ‘farming moisture’ philosophy, which involves planting whenever there is sufficient subsoil moisture to establish a competitive crop on their heavy clay soils.
Read it here.

With so many new products hitting the market and plenty more in the pipeline, it’s beneficial to find out the details about these new products and how they might fit into farming systems.
Syngenta’s Technical Services Lead James Considine (pictured above in a faba bean trial last year, during the Victorian covid restrictions. Left of James is untreated and right is Reflex treated) joins us to give an overview Reflex.
Planfarm Agronomist, Nick McKenna is also our guest. Nick has been speaking with growers who have just received their first allocation of Reflex. He provides some insights on how it’s being received and what it could mean for the future of lupins and other pulses.
Planfarm Agronomist, Nick McKenna, Geraldton, WA.
Up next
Our next Regional Update will come out next Monday and is with Craig Davis who is an independent Agronomist based in South Australia. You can ensure you don’t miss it by subscribing to the WeedSmart podcast on your podcast app of choice.
New content
We’ve got great content on the WeedSmart website for you to check out. The question ‘How can I ensure my complex tank mix is compatible and sprays out? Is answered in our latest Ask an Expert with Stephen Pettenon, technical services specialist, FMC. Check it out here.
Also, don’t miss our latest Case Study on Kurt Mayne from Rolleston in Qld. Kurt discusses the decisions around swapping patch cultivation for optical spraying technology in fallow. Check it out here.
We also have another Case Study out this week on the Single family based in Coonamble, NSW. Farming moisture their risk management strategy and it has paid off time and time again for them. Make sure you’re following us on Twitter so you don’t miss it!

Why were the batsmen tampering with the ball, shouldn’t that be the bowler’s job?
These are all questions that were being asked by a local project committee of growers and advisers, and there was only one way to answer them.
Enter Tony Swan from CSIRO. He and his team embarked on a massive, long-term research effort in Temora NSW, working with FarmLink Research to make it happen. The trial ran from 2014 to 2017 and the preliminary results are in.
And the winner is…
DIVERSITY. (Insert a fist pump from Professor Steve Powles here!)
Diverse crop rotations, including a double break, premium herbicides, with some extra crop competition courtesy of barley thrown in, and we have a winner. This diverse crop rotation smashed ryegrass numbers down from 1864 plants/m2 to 145 plants/m2 in just three years, and it was also the most profitable rotation.
Article courtesy AHRI. Link the full article can be found here

Perhaps you’re a ‘short black’ wheat-canola type, strong on inputs?
Or a ‘long black’ type who likes to dilute their rotations a bit more?
Or are you a ‘double shot’, throwing in a few break crops in a row for maximum effect?
When it comes to managing annual ryegrass populations, Tony Swan and the research team from CSIRO Plant Industry and FarmLink, have shown that ‘double shots’ are the key. Growing two break crops in sequence (broadleaf crop, hay crop or long fallow) was more effective in reducing resistant ryegrass numbers to manageable levels than a single break crop or continuous wheat over a three-year rotation.
And it can still be profitable.

The application of herbicides late in the season to prevent weeds setting seed or to desiccate crops must be carried out with caution and in line with herbicide label recommendations.
It is essential to check if these practices are acceptable to buyers, as in some situations markets have extremely low or even zero tolerance to some pesticide and herbicide residues.

Part 1: Control summer weeds for yield and profit
Every $1 spent on summer weed control can potentially return up to $8/ha through moisture and nitrogen conservation. The impact on grain yield as a result of various summer weed control treatments is what Colin McMaster (NSW DPI R&D) refers to as “buying a spring”.  Listen to Colin and Pete Newman (AHRI) as they investigate the $$ benefits of controlling summer weeds.
Resources:

Ask an Expert column with Colin McMaster
GRDC Summer Fallow Weed Management Manual

 
Part 2: Increase pre-em efficacy through a mix and rotate strategy
We’ve done a good job of promoting herbicide rotation over the years. And whilst this advice still stands, recent research shows the benefits of mixing herbicides as well.
As American weeds researcher, Pat Tranel, puts it, “rotating buys you time, mixing buys you shots (of herbicide)”. Listen to Pat and Pete as they explore the benefits of the mix and rotate strategy.

Resources

Spray resistant radish early for best efficacy and yield (Grant Thompson, Crop Updates paper 2014)
Herbicide resistant wild radish (Peter Newman)
Controlling herbicide resistant Wild Radish in wheat in the Northern Agricultural Region of WA with a two spray strategy (Peter Newman)
Diverse weed control: Left jab, right hook (AHRI insight)

 
Part 2:When is it worth rotating from clethodim (Select®) to butroxydim (Factor®)?
Is there any value in rotating the post-emergent herbicides clethodim (Select®) and butroxydim (Factor®)? The research suggests that Factor® will sometimes kill plants that are moderately-resistant to Select® that could help in driving down the weed seed bank. Dr Peter Boutsalis from the University of Adelaide discusses his latest research and observations using both products with AHRI’s Peter Newman.