 Alright, thanks for the invitation. I think I've spoken to this group a few months ago. I forgot exactly when, but glad to be back and give one more update. I know the blueberry season is going to fully star or may have already fully star herself out of them. You know, we haven't done the first blueberry picking yet. You know, usually I guess my family will do once or twice a year. So hopefully the information presented today will be helpful from the extension side. Okay, there we go. Alright, so I don't have to do any introduction about the weeds. All of y'all know this. The exact definition of weed is very complex according to the Weed Science Society of America. You know, that's our national professional association. But for farm, pretty much anything you don't really want or you don't want to see among your crop can be defined as a weed. A lot of times these are nuisance. They have to be controlled. They reduce your yield. They cause other type of issues for your crops. And everybody wants to see a clean crop, very nice farms everywhere. So there are many ways to do it. A lot of times when people have weeds, the first thing they come to their mind is, let's go get chemicals, let's crank up the sprayer. We're going to spray the hack out of these weeds. Alright, that's usually 90% time what people want to do. However, for specialty crops, for vegetables, or I should say for most of the field crops in general, you really have to think about the long term management, just because most of these weeds are very persistent. This is a major difference between weed science to entomology to plant pathology because a lot of insects and disease are sporadic. The environmental conditions are very important. And also for insects, they are able to migrate, they're able to move from one field to the other. For weeds, that's not really the case. I have never seen any weeds start to grow arms and legs, start running around or flying around. If that's the case, I hope all the weeds in my backyard fly to my neighbor's yard. So I don't have to worry about them anymore. So this is weed management one-on-one. Don't count on your weeds to disappear magically. They will not. They will keep being there for a long time. One farm that I work with in row crops to control tropical spiderwears, this is a very persistent weed in row crops. The farm was purchased back in 1950s in Alberta, Alabama. That's in Baldwin County. 70 years later, that weed is still there. Very, very thick. And we're about to spray some burnt down trials later this week going down to Baldwin County. All right, that's just an example. Very hard to get rid of. Stuff like cuzzoo, nonsage, you name it. They will be there for a long time. So be aware of that and prepare for long term management. I guess what I'm trying to say here is when you don't have a crop on your field, all right, when you rotate certain field out of production as a fallow ground, if you leave the weeds alone and let them do whatever they want, you will lose all the years of effort that you put into that field for the last so many years. Because for these weeds, they don't take long, you know, one year or two year fallow. Sometimes it could be just several months of fallow without a active management program can completely replenish their population. All right, their pressure next year will bloom. Just keep that in mind. So when you don't have a crop there or when your crop is not in the fruiting stage, it's not in the actively grown, you still have to manage weeds if you plan to use the same field for production. Also, if you bring in new ground, new field in production, make sure you use every effort to clean up the weeds before you have a crop. This is not such a huge deal for row crops, but for specialty crops, perennial crops and vegetables, that is very important. Because if you look at the herbicide options for certain specialty crop, you know, for example, kale, collard greens, you know, stuff like that, it is very depressing to look at the list because the list barely contained nothing. You have no options basically as a herbicide, right? So when you grow some stuff like that, you better have any herbicide option, better to make sure your field is clean before you put the seeds in, otherwise it's going to be a struggle. All right, so back to blueberry. There are several ways without using the herbicide to control the weeds and none of these are very hard to understand. You know, I pulled these pictures from the internet and then this is a good-looking orchard, all right? Pine bars, mulch, really thick, cover the base of the tree. Blueberries are crops that love low pH. You know, we all have to use the sulfuric acid to decrease the pH. And in this case, if you use pine straw, pine bark for multiple years, that will reduce the pH as well. You know, not sure if that will drop the pH low enough, but at least that's helping, you know, to reach that goal. And then the other thing I really like in this picture is the Bermuda grass and a perennial, or I should say a perennial grass everywhere around the bushes, all right? I somewhat doubt that you need to have your perennial crop or cover crop grow right next to your plant because crop competition, or I should say competition for nutrients and water can still be a concern. But in this case, they put a thick enough pine bark around the bushes to give those plants three to four feet weed-free or no weed competition zone, all right? And then these perennial grasses will suppress the weeds by themselves because it's pretty thick. You know, no weeds can grow in that situation. And then keep looking at some other options. Weed fabric. This is something I would highly recommend. A lot of nursery use that stuff. Some places we put down twice just don't want to see any weeds in our greenhouse, you know? So this stuff lasts multiple years. They don't break down very easy. You can step on them, you know, without worrying about you're going to punch a hole in them, whatever. So they're pretty sturdy, all right? And the cause-wise, it's not ridiculously high as well. And consider this as a one-time investment. I would highly recommend we're already using this. You know, if I plant a few blueberry or muscadine, you know, or whatever orchard type of crop in my backyard, I would definitely consider using those for smaller acreage, all right? So these are a few more examples of this weed barrier plus perennial grass system for weed suppression. You know, they all look fairly good, in my opinion. All right? Something to think about. This is what you need to plant out even before you plant your seedling or plant your trees, all right? Looking at the cause of this stuff, I didn't do a thorough analysis, you know, check, like 20 different suppliers for the cost. Forestry supplier is usually what we use a lot to buy supplies from my research and extension program. Four foot wide, 250 foot long weed barrier, heavy-duty professional barrier. This is retail price, you know? So I'm sure it can get cheaper than that. If this thing lasts five years, I think it will pay for itself very fast. It may not even take that long. And if it lasts more than five years, you know, that's all just profit for you, you know? Because the weeds growing in between the crop or right next to the crop, it doesn't matter if this is perennial or any crop or for row crop, that's usually the worst type of weed to control because they grow right next to your crop. You know, think about you plant a bunch of vegetable and now you got a bunch of pigweed either we scroll through the planting hole along with your crop. It's almost impossible to control in that case. I can kill everything in a row middle easy, but something came through the planting hole is hard. All right. Some people use the LDPE mulch, which is the predominate type people use for vegetables to form the bed. It'll be fine. It's better than nothing. But the issue is, you know, if you look at a plasti right there, they get holes very easy. Whether you step on them, or if you have a wildlife, you know, animals run through across the field, you know, for a deer, for example, deers and hawks, you know, they will step a lot of holes on those LDPE mulch. That is one problem we encountered one year in our vegetable trials. We literally have to cut a bunch of those black plastic mulch, make them into the size of patches. And we were sitting in the field to patch the damaged LDPE mulch, you know, our plastic bed, because we still have to use the same bed, same, you know, same row for the trial that summer. So we were patching those stuff around April, you know, just patched several hundred holes. So that is no fun. That's why I recommend that weed barrier, you know, the black fabric thing is much more sturdy. All right. So no doubt this thing covers a lot of weeds underneath it. A lot of things trying to push through it, but they can't, you know, that's, that's the main thing, you know, you have to keep your crop row clean, at least three to four, three to four feet wide where your crop is, you have to make sure your crop row is very clean, and then kill off everything in the row middle. So I said you can plant cover crop, perennial cover crop, or perennial grass, your orchard, and then that will give you a lot of benefits, you know. And also if you run a U-pick operation, you have a lot of cover crop like this in the row middle for people to walk on. You know, that's very nice. And particularly if it rains before they get to the farm, they don't have to walk in the mud, you know. So this will make a big difference. I would rather walk on this compared to walk on mud if I, you know, if I take my family to a U-pick nearby Auburn. So that that's one good thing about having green cover crop in the row middle, or green perennial grasses. But one thing I do feel a little bit concerned about is the cover crop fully covered this orchard, you know, or this area. So there is not a really a weed clean or weed free strip at the crop row. So this will cause some crop and the cover crop competition. And especially in this case, I can tell in this picture that they use white clover, which is a perennial plant that grows all year long. I mean, it does fix nitrogen, which is good. But in a dry year, it also compete water against your crop as well. So keep that in mind. All right, so it does look good. And it's healthy. It's good for the soil health, you know, BWR organic matter, things like that. But also at the same time as the competing for nutrients and water. So go back to the bed preparation or land preparation. You almost have to adopt the mentality or mindset that before you plant any type of crop, make sure you clean up the weeds really, really good, you know, and then at that point, after you plant your new crop into this ground, particularly perennial crop, also remember you don't have a lot of herbicide option when your perennial crop is little, you know, this applied to blueberry, this applied to peach trees, this applied to pecan trees, you know, most of those perennial crops are very easily to be injured by herbicide, soil herbicide or post-emergent herbicide, whatever. All right. So in that first year or two, you don't have many herbicide options. This is another reason why you got to kill those weeds really well before you plant. All right, don't try to rush it or stretch it too much. All right. So for blueberry specifically, the perennial woody plants or perennial woody weeds will be a problem. You know, for example, the briars, we got a lot of briars in Alabama. You know, those type of things need to be killed dead, dead or dog fennels, which is everywhere. You know, those things need to be killed pretty dead by glyphosate, 2,4-D and a garland. You know, those post-emergent herbicides don't possess long or residual activity. All right. Try to do it at least several months before you plant your crop and repeat it several times at least. This kind of reminds me for folks who plant pine trees. Most of the time after they clear cut a field, they would hire a helicopter to spray the whole area with garland or with some forestry herbicide with same purpose. Try to kill the weeds down, kill the perennial woody weeds down as best as they can before they plant the small pine trees, because the moment when they plant small pine trees, you won't have really have any herbicide option because anything you spray will probably kill those small pine seedlings for the first couple of years, you know. So the same strategy, same principle, kill everything well before you plant. And also make sure you use a methylated seed oil, base oil, whatever is affecting the heat of the herbicide to get a better control out of those weeds before you plant. Also, hand-remove is an option, mowing is an option, mulch is an option, cover crop, you know, that's an option. And then last two you'll have is a bunch of herbicides. All right. So try to diversify your weed control strategy as best as you can. When we look at a list of herbicides for blueberry, I say this is not a amazing list compared to stuff like soybean or corn, you know, because most of the herbicide molecule, you know, the new active ingredient usually gets labeled in row crop. All the testing is first, you know, is initially done in row crop. And then if something works well and has as potential for specialty crop, then they will think about stuff like vegetable, blueberry, peach and all those crops later on, right. So that's usually the process they'll follow. But if you look at this list, you know, there are a bunch of molecules we also use in row crop as well, but some of those are specific for brand new tree crops. All right. So looking at this list, different herbicides definitely have their own application window, you know. So it's not a clear cut that any herbicides can be sprayed at all same timing. You can spray whenever you want 24-7. No, that is not the case. That is why we have label. That is why we say label is the law. You have to follow the label. You got to read the label. You got to go to the label and read the rates, the application timing, the pre-harvest interval or acronym PHI. So have to follow the PHI restriction. Otherwise the residuals of the herbicide or chemicals that you spray is likely end up on the fruit that you sell, you know. So that will be an issue there. All right. So I found this map from Michigan State Extension. I think it's very helpful to help growers understand what are the herbicide options you have and when you need to apply it. All right. Also if you look at this list, it's anywhere from dormant to green fruit. You know, the timing may be a little bit off because we're about a month ahead of Michigan, you know, but the principle stays the same. You have to keep weeds free when your crop is actively growing and when it's setting fruit, you know, because you have to reduce the competition, but also keep this in mind. After the fruit are set, after people pick your fruit or you pick your fruit, you still have to keep your role middle, keep your field clean because if you think that, oh, I'm not making any money in July, August or September, which means I'm not going to spend any money to manage these weeds to make this crop healthy. Well, that's kind of short sighted because you're only hurting yourself the next year. You know, you give all the weeds a chance to replenish the seed bank, you know, to replenish the population and then next year, you're going to end up with a lot more summer weeds that you have to deal with. Okay. So don't be short sighted. Use those long residual herbicide like chateau or allion, you know, or diorone to keep the weeds free. You know, long-term residual herbicide works the best and then that will help decrease the weed population in the long run. Also keep in mind, we have a long summer. So it's very common for growers to have to spray three times or four times to keep the weeds clean, you know, keep the field clean, in this case. And also don't forget to rotate your chemistry. You don't want to beat a horse to death just because this horse work good for you. You know, for example, chateau or vatter, which depends on the row crop or specialty crop, you know, your row crops call vatter. It is a great herbicide. You know, we spray this thing a lot in Burndale and behind the planter for row crops. And also in specialty crops, chateau is a great product for perennial tree crop like blueberry, almonds, apple trees or pecans. But just because chateau works good doesn't mean you want to spray this thing all by itself, you know, three, four times a year for 10 years in a row. All right, you will create your own problem. For example, weed resistance. Pigweed can evolve resistance to PPO herbicide like chateau and it's already everywhere in the Midwest. And also there are certain weeds you don't kill very well with chateau. You know, for example, grasses, you will accumulate those weed pressure of whatever weeds it, you know, your herbicide don't kill very well. This is another reason why you have to rotate chemistry or sometimes do a tank mixture and, you know, to increase the weed control spectrum. All right, so keep that in mind. Also talk about rates real quick. Most of our growers have sandy soil, sometimes very sandy soil. All right, that is a good and bad thing, you know. For perennial crops, I'll say that's usually a bad thing because it doesn't hold fertilizer real well. It doesn't hold your chemical very well. It leaves really easy. So if you spray high rate of a residual herbicide on those very sandy soil, for example, well par, you know, that's a PS2 photosynthesis two system inhibitor, which has also has a high water solubility. All right, you spray that thing at a very high rate on sandy soil and it rains a lot after you spray, you probably will pick up some injury or damage on your crop. Even this is, you know, several years old blueberry trees or blueberry brushes. So keep that in mind when you have very sandy soil, low organic matter, your use rate have to be reduced a little bit. The highest level rate intended for heavier soil is not going to be applicable to you. You have to drop the rate back. Otherwise, you will see some injury. So you will need to use lower rates to avoid injury, but also lower rates means they doesn't last very long. That's another reason why you have to spray multiple times or more times compared to if you farm on a very heavy soil, just because just because your soil doesn't hold us, those soil herbicides very long. All right, so reduce the rate, but you have to spray more times, you know, which means just more cost, more labor, more diesel, unfortunately. Post-emergent treatments. All right, herbicide-wise, none of these can be sprayed over the top of the plants. These are all basically like a roll middle spray to the base of the brush type of application. You need to reduce or completely eliminate drift, because if you drift glyphosate to peaches or blueberry or pecan, you know, you will see the damage, particularly young tree seedlings. You know, the only thing you can spray everywhere is probably the grass herbicide like scythoxidine or Ursula max, these types of stuff. All right, so keep that in mind, drift management. So talk about the application equipment that you can use for post-emergent treatments, particularly the stuff you don't want to drift like a Liberty, you know, or Reli herbicide or Cromoxone. All these shield sprayer or hood sprayer come with different designs. You know, I found a few from internet. You want to keep the hood low to the ground, so the droplets, the spray droplets do not drift a lot, but also keep that in mind if your nozzle is really, really close to these weeds or to this stuff that you want to spray. It will not have good coverage either, so you basically are spraying a band. That band is right underneath your nozzle. There will not be any overlap between the nozzle, so you will kill a band, leave another band alive and kill another band, you know, in that case. So you might want to look into your equipment. Some people may can build some of this stuff at home, you know, certainly I ran into a lot of people with great Southern ingenuity, you know, they may can build a rocket, like redneck version rocket in their backyard. So some people may build their own a shield sprayer or stuff like that to spray the roll middle or underneath the roll very factually. That's all good, but make sure the coverage is good, because if you sacrifice the coverage to prevent drift, eventually you're still leaving a few strips of weeds alive in between the roll middle all the time. And also for roll middle mowing is very effective, you know, if you're happy with just running a mower, you know, throughout the orchard, and you don't have really big operation just several acres, that'll work fine too. So as long as you get the weeds cleaned up in between the plants in the crop row, keep the crop row clean, you're all good, you know, I don't see too much issue with that. So, you know, not sure, try to diversify your strategies. Don't put all your eggs in one basket. And also to prevent drift, you have to somewhat note this chart. Okay, don't use fine or medium droplet size. These are very tiny, very small spray droplets. They give you a great coverage, but those droplets drift very easy with wind, all right. So at least use a coarse droplet, use a coarse droplet, or maybe very coarse droplet for stuff like glyphosate, you know, to prevent drift. I think the newest 240 called a 240 cooling formulation made by a Corteva, delagra science, may even have a label in perennial crops these days. So which means you can spray 240 in between the rows to the row middle, you know, in a sensitive crop, you know, sounds a little scary, you know, I haven't tried that yet. But if you spray some stuff like that, make sure you use very coarse droplets. So the droplet will not drift directly on the trees, because you know, drifting those systemic herbicide like 240 or Dicambo is not going to be very fun in sensitive crop. All right, so at the end, just a quick summary of all the things we covered. All right, so try to eliminate or reduce weed problem before you plant a crop or hit them as hard as you can before you plant your new brushes. Use mulch mowing nonchemical options during the establishment year when your trees are very little or when your brush is very little. Consider mulch, whether it is a pine bark, pine trees or leaving mulch like cover crop in between the rows. Cover crop like clover, legumes are really good, they can fix nitrogen, attract pollinator, increase your soil health, increase microbial activity, you know, there's a long list of benefits, but also keep that in mind. You probably still want to keep a weed-free strip on each side of the crop to prevent crop and cover crop competition, because if you have stuff like bermuda grass and white clover that can grow year-long, particularly active in the summer, you don't want to have those things compete against your crop for nutrients and water in the dry year. So that's why keep a weed-free strip on each side of the tree is important. Also consider for you pick, you might want to consider to have something in the row middle for people to walk on, so you know we don't have to walk in the mud in the wet year, we'll pick those blueberry or muscadine or peach, you know, that's generally a good strategy. All right, for herbicides, you want to use at least two applications, I would say maybe three applications to be more realistic for deep cells down here. Use pre-emergence for sure, and you can combine pre-emergence and post-emergence in the same trip if you want to keep the weeds down, but those long-term resources for herbicide is very important. All right, I'll save you a lot of headache later on for mowing the weeds. If you use a hoot spray or a post-direct sprayer, make sure you don't drift, just spray to the target, spray to the base of the plants and don't drift onto the leaves. Rotate chemistry is important, mowing, hand waiting as needed, don't let weeds set seeds in the fall, you know, just go back to the point that even your crop is not making your money in the fall, you don't want to let all the weeds do whatever they want and turn themselves very loose, you know, and just set up a tons of seeds, tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands seeds per acre, that'll cause you a lot of trouble next year. So for very sandy soil, very low organic matter, young trees just planted into this type of soil, be careful with herbicide injury. Nobody can tell you whether this is safe or not unless you test on yourself. A good general rule of thumb is go with lower rate on the label, read the label real well, make sure you understand the risk. If it tells you, if the label tells you, hey, you just cannot spray this soil herbicide on sandy soil, follow the label, because if you do, you might like to get hurt and if you get hurt, your injury or crop, you cannot go against the manufacturer because the manufacturer clearly specified, you cannot use this herbicide on very sandy soil, all right, so all the risk is on you or the damage is on you in that case. All right, when you spray Liberty and Gromoxone, these are very effective post-emergent options. Both are contact herbicide, which means you got spray with hood sprayer, don't like to drift on the leaves, but actually if you drift a little bit Gromoxone or Reli or Liberty herbicide on the leaves or any type of green leaves, it will be just a bunch of speckles, it's not going to cause any damage to the tree itself, it only hurts the leaves, but if you drift a systemic herbicide like a Roundup or 240 or Dicamba or Graze on the pasture herbicide onto sensitive broad leaf crops, that will cause potentially long-term effect because the herbicide can move inside the plant and disrupt normal growth at a very low dosage, so keep that in mind. All right, that's pretty much everything I have.