 Hello, my name is David Russell, Extension Specialist with Alabama Cooperative Extension Service in Auburn University. In response to many questions I get during the spring of every year, I'd like to discuss options for buttercup control in Alabama forages. So the target we eat in question is effectively known as buttercup. There are over 100 different species or subspecies, but only about 11 occur in the southeast. Of those, we may likely find in Alabama only two are true annuals, meaning they complete their life cycle within one year. They produce seed and die. So that means the others are either biennial, meaning it persists or takes two years to mature or perennials, meaning they return year after year from both seeds and roots. From a weed control standpoint, perennials are almost always more difficult to control for this reason. Mechanical mowing or disking is usually not effective, and many in the ranunculus genus are toxic to livestock. So to you or someone you know have pastures like this in the spring, because we as forage managers often base our control decisions on visual cues, I'd like to briefly cover effective timing and control options to minimize the presence of buttercup, as well as other courses in broadleaf weeds to maximize our forage potential. Whenever possible, it's usually best to use an integrated weed management strategy for the control of troublesome weeds, meaning using a combination of mechanical, cultural, and or chemical control methods. Unfortunately, in this case, buttercup, we've not seen effective results from mechanical control, and because of its toxic properties, grazing livestock choose to avoid it. So our most effective control often comes from timely herbicide applications. 50 degrees soil temperatures seem to be optimal for buttercup seed germination. On average, this would occur anytime between early November to mid January, depending on your location within the state. Those perennial plants will be emerging at this time as well. Consequently, from Maristail or horseweed, and others like chickweed or geranium or wood soil or red soil or hen bit, soil temperatures above 50 degrees Fahrenheit with adequate soil moisture and sunlight are all that's needed for successful germination. This was what also be developing a basal rosette at this point as well. So my point here is this is the optimal time to treat these small weeds while they're young and soil conditions are fair enough to allow equipment in the field. Many of our spring fields are simply far too wet to do anything in that February to April timeframe, just to consider the last two years, for example. So we've demonstrated this very same message by applying various herbicides beginning in November to determine the effective timing. We've used common broadleaf herbicides like Grazon Next, Weedmaster and 2-4-D and made applications in mid-November, mid-December and mid-March. This drawn photo was taken mid-April and you can still even see the November application almost five months later. Here are those same images shown by application timing. This application was made in mid-November and the photo was taken early May, almost six months later. So these are pretty cheap and very effective options. This rate of Grazon Next is about a $7 to $9 per acre treatment. The 2-4-D as well as the Weedmaster may be as low as a $4 to $6 per acre treatment. So you may be wondering why I used that 10.8 fluid ounces of the 2-4-D ester. Seems kind of random. Well, that ester is a 5.6 pound acid formulation. And so this rate of the ester is equivalent to about a one pint per acre rate of a four pound amine formulation. This is just a snapshot of the field conditions we had in North Alabama during that November application. It was still dry enough to get equipment in the field. But as you can see, Buttercup is growing just fine. So for those of you at least in the northern half of the state, you might want to consider doing a little spraying after enjoying Thanksgiving meal and watching a little football. Just understand that those weeds are out there at that time. This is our December application. Again, same treatments with good results. The benefit of a December versus November application would be that there's more time to allow for other weeds to emerge in that one month delay. So if you're using 2-4-D alone, it's got very little if any soil residual, while the other products do. We missed the January and February applications because we barely had any days where it wasn't raining. So this is a March application. And at this point, Buttercup flowers are beginning to show up across the fields. And I also switched to the 2-4-D amine because the air temperatures were on the rise and using the ester formulation is more likely to volatilize in these conditions compared to the amine. And look what's still out there following our March application. Even at rates of one quart per acre, white clover. Again, our take-home message here is for those of us that have fields of yellow in the spring, please understand that those same plants are out there growing in the fall when they're much more easily controlled. So I'd rather you get weed pressure under control with a very timely and relatively cheap application. Most established white clover will recover. If you'd like more information, please feel free to email me or go to our ASIS website or find us on our Facebook pages.