2013 Flax Weed Control Trial

2013 Flx Weed Control Tril Dr. Hether Drby, UVM Extension Agronomist Susn Monhn, Conner Burke, Eric Cummings, nd Hnnh Hrwood UVM Extension Crops nd Soils Technicins 802-524-6501 Visit us on the web: http://www.uvm.edu/extension/cropsoil December 2013, University of Vermont Extension

2013 FLAX WEED CONTROL TRIAL Dr. Hether Drby, University of Vermont Extension hether.drby[t]uvm.edu INTRODUCTION Flx is spring nnul tht is usully plnted s erly s the ground cn be worked. One of the min chllenges to successfully growing flx is weed control. Flx plnts compete poorly with fst growing weeds due to its reltively short height (between 12 nd 36 inches when mture) nd tiny leves. This tril ws initited to see if mngement, including different row spcing nd cultivtion, would ffect weed densities in flx. MATERIALS AND METHODS This tril ws plnted t Borderview Reserch Frm in Alburgh, VT on 19-Apr 2013. Generl plot mngement is listed in Tble 1. The previous crop ws spring whet. The field ws disked nd spike tooth hrrowed prior to plnting. Plots were seeded with vriety Rhb 94 t seeding rte of 50 lbs cre -1. The experimentl design ws rndomized complete block with four replictions. Four weed control techniques were compred ginst control of stndrd 6 row spcing nd no cultivtion (Tble 2). The nrrow row tretment ws plnted with Kvernelnd grin drill t 4.5 row spcing. The wide row tretment ws lso plnted with Kvernelnd grin drill (by plugging every other hole in the hopper for 9 row spcing) nd cultivted with Schmotzer hoe on 4-Jun. The tine-weed tretment ws plnted with Gret Plins grin drill t 6 row spcing nd tine-weeded on 4-Jun. The interseed tretment ws plnted with Gret Plins grin drill t stndrd 6 row spcing with the ddition of Alice white clover t 4 lbs cre -1. Heights, popultion, nd weed counts were mesured on 31-My. Popultions were determined by counting flx plnts in one ½ meter 2 qudrt per plot. Annul nd perennil brodlef nd grss weeds were counted in one ½ meter 2 qudrt before nd fter cultivtion. The tine-weed nd wide row tretments were cultivted on 4-Jun. Additionlly, weed cover ws determined on 18-Jun s percent of totl plnt cover using the web bsed IMAGING crop response nlyzer. Digitl imges were tken with compct digitl cmer, Cnon PowerShot G12 (Melville, NY) (10.4 Megpixels). One picture covering pproximtely 1/2 m 2 ws tken in ech plot before weeding nd one picture ws tken fter weeding. Digitl imges were nlyzed with the utomted imging softwre, which ws progrmmed in MATLAB (MthWorks, Inc., Ntick, MA) nd lter converted into free web-bsed softwre (www.imging-crop.dk). The outcome of the nlysis is lef cover index, which is the proportion of pixels in the imges determined to be green. Totl plnt cover (1 st picture) flx cover (second picture)/ totl plnt cover = weed cover (%). Flx plots were hrvested with n Almco SPC50 smll plot combine on 6-Sep 2013. The hrvest re ws 5 x 20. Seed ws clened with smll Clipper M2B clener (A.T. Ferrell, Bluffton, IN). Results were nlyzed with n nlysis of vrince in SAS (Cry, NC). The Lest Significnt Difference (LSD) procedure ws used to seprte cultivr mens when the F-test ws significnt (p< 0.10). Tble 1. Generl plot mngement. Borderview Reserch Frm Tril Informtion Alburgh, VT Soil Type Benson rocky silt lom Previous crop Spring Whet Plnting dte 19-Apr Hrvest dte 6-Sep Seeding rte 50 lbs cre -1 Tillge methods Mold bord plow, disk, nd spike tooth hrrow

Tble 2. Weed control techniques. Tretment Row spcing inches Plnter Cultivtion Nrrow row 4.5 Kvernelnd grin drill none Wide row with cultivtion 9 Kvernelnd grin drill Schmotzer hoe Tine-weed 6 Gret Plins grin drill Tine-weeder Interseed 6 Gret Plins grin drill none Control 6 Gret Plins grin drill none Vritions in yield nd qulity cn occur becuse of vritions in genetics, soil, wether nd other growing conditions. Sttisticl nlysis mkes it possible to determine whether difference mong vrieties is rel, or whether it might hve occurred due to other vritions in the field. At the bottom of ech tble, LSD vlue is presented for ech vrible (i.e. yield). Lest Significnt differences (LSD s) t the 10% level of probbility re shown. Where the difference between two tretments within column is equl to or greter thn the LSD vlue t the bottom of the column, you cn be sure in 9 out of 10 chnces tht there is rel difference between the two vrieties. Tretments tht were not significntly lower in performnce thn the highest vlue in prticulr column re indicted with n sterisk. In the exmple to the right, A is significntly different from C but not from B. The difference between A nd B is equl to 1.5, which is less thn the LSD vlue of 2.0. This mens tht these vrieties did not differ in yield. The difference between A nd C is equl to 3.0, which is greter thn the LSD vlue of 2.0. This mens tht the yields of these vrieties were significntly different from one nother. The sterisk indictes tht B ws not significntly lower thn the top yielding vriety. Vriety Yield A 6.0 B 7.5* C 9.0* LSD 2.0 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION Sesonl precipittion nd temperture recorded t wether sttion in Alburgh, VT re shown in Tble 3. From April to September, there ws n ccumultion of 4,511 Growing Degree Dys (GDDs) in Alburgh which is 18 GDDs less thn the 30-yer verge. Flx needs 1,603 GDDs to rech mturity. Tble 3. Sesonl wether dt 1 collected in Alburgh, VT, 2013. Alburgh, VT April My June July August Averge temperture ( F) 43.6 59.1 64 71.7 67.7 Deprture from norml -1.2 2.7-1.8 1.1-1.1 Precipittion (inches) 2.12 4.79 9.23 ⱡ 1.89 2.41 Deprture from norml -0.7 1.34 5.54-2.26-1.5 Growing Degree Dys (bse 32 F) 349 848 967 1235 1112 Deprture from norml -35.6 91.4-47.0 36.8-27.2 1 Bsed on wether dt from Dvis Instruments Vntge Pro2 with WetherLink dt logger. Historicl verges re for 30 yers of NOAA dt (1981-2010) from Burlington, VT. ⱡ June 2013 precipittion dt bsed on Ntionl Wether Service dt from coopertive sttions in South Hero, VT (http://www.nrcc.cornell.edu/pge_summries.html)

Two weed tretments in this study so poorly competed with weeds tht we did not hrvest them due to the excessive weed pressure. Only the nrrow row tretment, wide row with Schmotzer hoe, nd control were hrvested (for comprison purposes) (Tble 4). Imges of these tretments just before hrvest re presented below (Figures 1-3). Visully, it ws cler tht the wide row with hoeing tretment ws most effective t competing with weeds; the nrrow row tretment ws close second, nd the control ws over-run with weeds. The Schmotzer hoe ws very effective t removing weeds from the flx plots. From weed counts tken before nd fter cultivtion on 4-Jun, the verge percent of weeds removed from tine weeding ws 23.4% while the verge percent of weeds removed from wide rows fter Schmotzer hoeing ws 80.5% (dt not shown). Figure 1. Flx control plot. Figure 2. Wide row flx with Schmotzer hoe. Figure 3. Nrrow row flx. Tble 4. Plot chrcteristics nd hrvest yield of flx grown with different weed control techniques, Alburgh, VT. Tretment Flx popultion Weed popultion Height Weed cover Yield plnts m 2 plnts m 2 in % lbs. c -1 Wide w/ hoe 404 567 8.1 16.6* 622* Nrrow row 409 352 8.6 14.0* 474* Control 321 351 7.6 40.8 272 Tril Men 378 423 8.1 23.8 456 LSD (p<0.10) NS NS NS 15.6 187 *Vrieties with n sterisk re not significntly different thn the top performer in bold. NS No significnt difference mongst vrieties. Flx popultions, weed popultions, nd heights mesured on 31-My were not significntly different for ny of the weed control tretments. The weed cover, mesured on 18-Jun resulted in significntly different weed cover (out of totl plnt cover), 14.0 nd 16.6% for the nrrow row nd wide row tretments compred to over 40% weeds for the control (Figure 4). The wide row with cultivtion yielded the highest t 622 lbs cre -1, over twice the yields from the control plot (Tble 4 & Figure 4). Chllenges of direct cut combining, such s losing the light flx seed in nooks nd crcks in the combine, likely resulted in hrvest yields lower thn ctul yields.

Yield (lbs/cre) Weed Cover (%) 700 600 b 45 40 500 35 30 400 25 300 b 20 200 15 10 100 5 0 Wide w/ hoe Nrrow row Control Weed Control Method 0 Yield Weeds Figure 4. Yield (lbs/cre) nd weed cover (%) of flx plots mnged with different weed control techniques. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The UVM Extension Northwest Crops nd Soils Tem would like to thnk SARE for funding this reserch. Specil thnks to Roger Rinville nd the stff t Borderview Reserch Frm. This informtion is presented with the understnding tht no product discrimintion is intended nd neither endorsement of ny product mentioned, nor criticism of unnmed products, is implied. UVM Extension helps individuls nd communities put reserchbsed knowledge to work. Issued in furthernce of Coopertive Extension work, Acts of My 8 nd June 30, 1914, in coopertion with the United Sttes Deprtment of Agriculture. University of Vermont Extension, Burlington, Vermont, University of Vermont Extension, nd U.S. Deprtment of Agriculture, cooperting, offer eduction nd employment to everyone without regrd to rce, color, ntionl origin, gender, religion, ge, disbility, politicl beliefs, sexul orienttion, nd mritl or fmilil sttus.