Overlapping Residual Herbicides May Be Necessary for Effective Weed Management

Weed management is always a critical component of crop production, but in sunflowers, it poses unique challenges. Compared with many other crops, there is a limited selection of herbicides that are labeled for sunflowers, especially postemergence herbicides.

Certain herbicides can be applied postemergence for effective control of grass weeds (i.e., clethodim [Select Max]). Additionally, there are herbicide traits that allow for the application of select ALS-inhibiting herbicides in Clearfield (i.e., imazamox [Beyond Extra]) and Express (i.e., tibenuron [Express]). While these herbicides can effectively manage many broadleaf weeds and some grass weeds, kochia and waterhemp in South Dakota are resistant to these herbicides.