Changes to weed profile

It’s been a very different growing season and with that has come a very different in-crop weed profile.

Most of my travels are in West Central and Southwest Saskatchewan, and in those regions it’s been a great year for wild mustard. It’s a weed that’s easily controlled in cereal crops and within canola, but it’s a different story within lentil crops. There’s a smattering of wild mustard in nearly all the regular lentil crops and some crops are absolutely polluted. You have to look closely to be sure it’s actually a lentil crop. In Clearfield lentils, much better wild mustard control is possible and those crops are typically much cleaner. It’s also been a great year for Canada thistle. While it’s common to see Canada thistle patches, this year you see more fields where the perennial has taken over large sections. One weed that hasn’t thrived is kochia. Usually by this point in the season big kochia Christmas trees are taking over in some pulse crops. This year, it’s rare to see a crop with a significant kochia problem. Even roadsides have fewer kochia than usual.  Wild mustard seeds remain viable a long time and some fields are going to see a lot of seed go back into the ground. Kochia seeds remain viable for only a few years so that weed seed bank should be decreased after this year. I’m Kevin Hursh.

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