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field day

Weed Control in Blueberries 

When it comes to controlling perennial weeds in blueberries, starting clean is the best option, according to Washington State University weed scientist Tim Miller. Once perennials are established, he said, control becomes very difficult.

Speaking at Oregon State University’s Blueberry Field Day, held July 6 at the North Willamette Research and Extension Center in Aurora, Miller presented information on several weed control options.

Among products he discussed were:

  • Stinger (clopyralid), a post-emergence broadleaf herbicide with good activity on Canada thistle and white clover;
  • Callisto (mesotrione), which has good post-emergence activity on several weed species, including mostly on broadleaf weeds;
  • Sandea (halosulfuron) and Matrix (rimsulfuron), both ALS inhibitors with pre-emergence and post-emergence activity on certain grass and broadleaf weeds; and
  • Alion (indaziflam), a product not yet registered, but one showing promise as a pre-emergence herbicide for grass and broadleaf weeds.

Miller noted Alion will likely not initially be registered for use in young berries, but that registration for use in fully-established blueberry plantings may come as soon as this winter.

Washington State University weed scientist Tim Miller talks about controlling perennial weeds in blueberries at this past summer's Blueberry Field Day.

From data Miller collected in trials conducted on young blueberry plants during 2015 and 2016, Miller said that Sandea and Matrix caused some injury to plants in their first year. Neither product is currently registered for first-year blueberry plantings, so expanding these registrations to include first-year blueberry plantings is unlikely at this time, he said.

Herbicides that appear relatively safe on blueberries at tested rates include Stinger, Matrix and Alion.

Miller noted Alion looked “quite safe” on young blueberries in 2015, but that he noticed some damage to the Duke cultivar in testing this year. Because these were young plants, he wasn’t sure whether established plants would be at all sensitive to this product or that a slight level of injury would impact yield. The weed control with the product, meanwhile, was excellent, he said, with a long residual.

Callisto also provided excellent broad-spectrum weed control, he said. Unfortunately, Callisto, like all the other previously mentioned products, does not have good activity on bindweed, he said.

Treevix, (saflufenacil), a product he first evaluated several years ago, showed quite a lot of damage when applied over the top of non-dormant one-year-old Elliott and Draper in Eltopia, Washington, Miller said. Treevix is labeled in citrus, pome fruit and nut trees, but not yet in blueberries.

 

 


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