During the establishment of alfalfa, POST applications of imazethapyr at 50 g/ha, following PPI applications of trifluralin at 1,100 g/ha, consistently provided ≥ 80% control of wild oat, volunteer canola, and shepherd's-purse with no crop injury. POST applications of the same rate of imazethapyr without PPI applications of trifluralin provided similar volunteer canola and shepherd's-purse control, but ≥ 80% wild oat control was achieved only 25% of the time. Imazethapyr, alone or following trifluralin, did not control common groundsel. Broadleaf weed control from imazethapyr at 50 g/ha tank mixed with fluazifop-P at 125 g/ha or sethoxydim at 200 g/ha was not reduced compared to imazethapyr alone. However, the probability of controlling wild oat by ≥ 90% was reduced from 83% to 0 when the same rate of imazethapyr was tank mixed with fluazifop-P, compared to fluazifop-P alone. Tank mixtures of imazethapyr at 50 g/ha and sethoxydim controlled wild oat only slightly less than sethoxydim alone. First cut and total herbage yields, obtained 1 yr after alfalfa establishment, increased where treatments effectively controlled broadleaf weeds and wild oat, compared to check plots. Second cut herbage and seed yields, also obtained 1 yr after alfalfa establishment, were not affected by any of the treatments.

Field experiments were conducted from 1993 to 1995 to compare weed control by the isopropylamine salt of glyphosate at 0.21, 0.42, 0.63, and 0.84 kg ae/ha applied at three stages of weed growth. Weed control by glyphosate applied at these rates alone or with ammonium sulfate at 2.8 kg/ha was also evaluated. In other experiments, potential interactions between glyphosate and acifluorfen, chlorimuron, and 2,4-DB were evaluated. Velvetleaf, prickly sida, sicklepod, pitted morningglory, entireleaf morningglory, palmleaf morningglory, and hemp sesbania were controlled more easily when weeds had one to three leaves compared with control when weeds had four or more leaves. Glyphosate controlled redroot pigweed, velvetleaf, prickly sida, sicklepod, and barnyardgrass more effectively than pitted morningglory, entireleaf morningglory, palmleaf morningglory, or hemp sesbania. Increasing the rate of glyphosate increased control, especially when glyphosate was applied to larger weeds. Greater variation in control was noted for pitted morningglory, palmleaf morningglory, prickly sida, and velvetleaf than for redroot pigweed, sicklepod, entireleaf morningglory, or hemp sesbania. Ammonium sulfate increased prickly sida and entireleaf morningglory control but did not influence sicklepod, hemp sesbania, or barnyardgrass control. Acifluorfen applied 3 d before glyphosate or in a mixture with glyphosate reduced barnyardgrass control compared with glyphosate applied alone. Chlorimuron did not reduce efficacy. Mixtures of glyphosate and 2,4-DB controlled sicklepod, entireleaf morningglory, and barnyardgrass similar to glyphosate alone.

Competition between bluebunch wheatgrass and spotted knapweed was quantified using three addition series experiments in an environmental chamber. Using two density matrices, spotted knapweed plants were thinned by either 45 or 90% of their original densities 40 d after emergence. Another matrix of density combinations was not thinned. All plant material was harvested 90 d after thinning. Spotted knapweed was about four times more competitive than bluebunch wheatgrass. Reducing spotted knapweed by 45% did not alter the competitive relationship between the two species. We believe remaining knapweed individuals captured the majority of the newly available resources. Ninety percent reduction was necessary to shift the competitive relationship in favor of bluebunch wheatgrass. Successful integrated spotted knapweed management must exploit key mechanisms and processes directing plant community dynamics, in conjunction with weed density reduction, if communities are to be shifted toward those that are desired.

In the summer of 1995, green foxtail seed samples were collected from 17 fields in southwestern Manitoba where trifluralin resistance was first identified in 1988. Since 1988, six of these fields had not been treated with dinitroaniline herbicides (DNAHs), four had been treated once, and seven had been treated two or more times. The proportions of resistant (R) and susceptible (S) seeds in each sample were determined using a petri-dish seed bioassay. Among the samples collected from fields that had not been treated between 1988 and 1995, two contained > 99% R seeds. The others ranged from 40 to 83%. Among the four samples collected from fields that were treated once, two contained > 99% R seeds and the other two contained 59 and 67% R seeds. Five of the seven samples collected from fields treated two or more times contained > 97% R seeds and the other two approximately 89 and 68% resistant seeds. There was no statistical correlation between the proportion of R seeds and the frequency of DNAH use since 1988. The proportion of R seeds present in 1988 and 1995 could not be compared because of the way in which fields were treated prior to sampling in the 2 yr; however, the results clearly indicate that trifluralin resistance can persist in green foxtail populations for at least 7 yr. By inference, the results indicate that trifluralin-resistant green foxtail plants are almost, if not equally, as fit as susceptible plants. Consequently, once resistance is present in a green foxtail population, DNAHs cannot be used for its control, even in the absence of additional selection pressure, for at least 7 yr and probably much longer.

Quackgrass is a serious weed problem in the northern United States and southern Canada. Field experiments were conducted in 1990 and 1991 to examine the effect of herbicide rate, application timing, quackgrass growth stage, and cultivation on quackgrass control with nicosulfuron and primisulfuron in corn. Nicosulfuron (35 g ai/ha) and primisulfuron (40 g ai/ha) each provided 84% or greater control of two-leaf plants and 93% or greater control of four-leaf quackgrass plants. Sequential applications of both nicosulfuron and primisulfuron provided greater season-long control than single applications of the same rate on two-leaf but not four-leaf quackgrass. Cultivation 10 d after nicosulfuron or primisulfuron application often increased early-season control, but by corn harvest few differences were observed. Postemergence (POST) applications of nicosulfuron and primisulfuron provided at least 88% control, compared with 66 to 86% from an early preplant application of glyphosate. Corn yields were similar regardless of the quackgrass control program.

The potential of alachlor, SAN 582H (Proposed name, dimethenamid), chlorimuron plus metribuzin, clomazone, imazaquin, imazethapyr, metolachlor, sulfentrazone, and trifluralin plus flumetsulam to injure rice the year following application to soybean was evaluated on silty clay and silt loam soils in Louisiana. These herbicides did not cause rice injury or yield reduction. Rice tolerance of the amine salt of 2,4-D or thifensulfuron plus tribenuron applied 0, 7, 14, and 28 d prior to planting was also evaluated on these soils. The amine salt of 2,4-D at 1.1 kg ai/ha injured rice 43 and 52% on silty clay and silt loam soils, respectively, in 1994 when applied the day of planting. In 1995, injury was 78 and 88% on these respective soils at this timing. When applied 7 d or more before planting, 2,4-D amine injured rice in one of four trials. Thifensulfuron plus tribenuron (17 + 9 g ai/ha) injured rice in one of four trials when applied the day of planting, but did not injure rice when applied 7 d before planting. No visual rice injury was observed when 2,4-D amine or thifensulfuron plus tribenuron was applied 14 or 28 d before planting. Rice grain yield was not affected by thifensulfuron plus tribenuron regardless of the interval between application and rice planting. In contrast, rice grain yield was reduced in all trials when 2,4-D amine was applied on the day of planting, and in one of four trials when applied 7 or 14 d before planting.

A classification of herbicides according to their sites of action was developed to help maintain the usefulness of herbicides as a tool in crop production to delay the selection of herbicide-resistant weeds. The classification includes a numbering system for the site of action, the chemical family, and the common name of the herbicide. The United States of America trade name and package mixes also are included.

Common purslane becomes quite permanently established where they are once introduced and will doubtless become weeds wherever they escape from cultivation.—William Darlington (1859)

An international symposium devoted specifically to formulation science, the first of its kind to provide multi-industry cross-fertilization, has been announced by the Association of Formulation Chemists (AFC). The conference, Formulations Forum ‘97, will be held in Las Vegas, NV, September 3–5, 1997, at the MGM Grand Hotel. The theme of the meeting is “Formulating in the New Millennium.”