31 Mar Sorghum is Back
1971 was “The Year of Sorghum” because there were over 20 million acres of sorghum were planted in the U.S. Sorghum acres declined steadily after that because greenbugs showed up and had a big impact on sorghum yields and acres for nearly a decade. Sorghum acres declined again when technologies in corn, soybean, and cotton were launched in the late 1990s.
Sorghum is Back! We can make this statement because Double Team™ Sorghum is available to sorghum growers. This new technology allows sorghum growers to control grass weeds with over-the-top applications of FirstAct™ herbicide. Sorghum is a natural fit in the semi-arid High Plains since it handles drought stress better than most other summer crops. This environment also makes grass control with preemerge herbicides difficult because there are springs where it is too dry to activate these herbicides. When it does rain, the grass weeds come up and are tough competition with the crop. Double Team Sorghum gives growers a powerful tool to control late emerging grass weeds with FirstAct herbicide, which provides excellent control of most perennial and annual grass weeds.
If you have problems with grass weeds, you cannot afford not give Double Team Sorghum a try. Weed competition can be devastating. Brent Bean at United Sorghum Checkoff summarized that impact of weed competition on sorghum yields (link at end of blog). Johnsongrass and shattercane reduced sorghum yields by over 80%, sandburs over 40%, foxtails over 40%, and Texas Panicum more than 80%. Even a 10% yield loss in a field with an 80 bu/acre yield history can be significant. Our experience in looking at yield maps over the 20 years has taught us that you cannot see a 10% yield loss, it is that subtle. There is a very good chance you are losing 10% of your yield in many of your fields every year to weeds that are hard to see and the ones you do see are costing you more than you suspect. This could be from small patches of grass that come in late that you do not notice until harvest or after. Weeds like sandburs are difficult to see in sorghum or any crop until it is too late. So, my statement at the beginning of the paragraph should be “you probably have a problem with grass weeds”
Just remember…Cleaner fields equal Higher Yields and Double Team will help you achieve cleaner fields.
https://www.sorghumcheckoff.com/agronomy-insights/grassy-weed-competition-in-sorghum/