Horseweed (Conyza canadensis) is a common weed in no-till crop production systems. It is problematic because of the frequent occurrence of biotypes resistant to glyphosate and acetolactate synthase (ALS)-inhibiting herbicides and its ability to complete its life cycle as a winter or summer annual weed. Tactics to control horseweed while controlling other winter annual weeds routinely fail; herbicide application timing and spring emergence patterns of horseweed may be responsible. The objectives of this experiment were to (1) determine the influence of fall and spring herbicides with and without soil residual horseweed activity on spring-emerging glyphosate-resistant (GR) horseweed density and (2) evaluate the efficacy and persistence of saflufenacil on GR horseweed. Field studies were conducted in southern Indiana and Illinois from fall 2006 to summer 2007 and repeated in 2007 to 2008. Six preplant herbicide treatments were applied at four application timings: early fall, late fall, early spring, and late spring. Horseweed plants were counted every 2 wk following the first spring application until the first week of July. Horseweed almost exclusively emerged in the spring at both locations. Spring horseweed emergence was higher when 2,4-D + glyphosate was fall-applied and controlled other winter annual weeds. With fall-applied 2,4-D + glyphosate, over 90% of the peak horseweed density was observed before April 25. In contrast, only 25% of the peak horseweed density was observed in the untreated check by April 25. Starting from the initiation of horseweed emergence in late March, chlorimuron + tribenuron applied early fall or early spring, and spring-applied saflufenacil at 100 g ai/ha provided greater than 90% horseweed control for 12 wk. Early spring–applied saflufenacil at 50 g ai/ha provided 8 wk of greater than 90% residual control, and early spring–applied simazine provided 6 wk of greater than 90% control. When applied in late spring, saflufenacil was the only herbicide treatment that reduced horseweed densities by greater than 90% compared to 2,4-D + glyphosate. We concluded from this research that fall applications of nonresidual herbicides can increase the rate and density of spring emerging horseweed. In addition, spring-applied saflufenacil provides no-till producers with a new preplant herbicide for foliar and residual control of glyphosate- and ALS-resistant horseweed.

Fall-applied residual and spring preplant burn-down herbicide applications are typically used to control winter annual weeds and may also provide early-season residual control of summer annual weed species such as giant ragweed. Field experiments were conducted from 2006 to 2008 in southern Illinois to (1) assess the emergence pattern of giant ragweed, (2) evaluate the efficacy of several herbicides commonly used for soil-residual control of giant ragweed, and (3) investigate the optimal application timing of soil-residual herbicides for control of giant ragweed. Six herbicide treatments were applied at four application timings: early fall, late fall, early spring, and late spring. Giant ragweed first emerged in mid- and late-March in 2007 and 2008, respectively. The duration of emergence varied by year, with 95% of emergence complete in late May of 2008, but not until early July in 2007. Giant ragweed emergence occurred more quickly in plots that received a fall application of glyphosate + 2,4-D compared with the nontreated. Fall-applied residual herbicides did not reduce giant ragweed emergence in 2007 when compared with the nontreated, with the exception of chlorimuron + tribenuron applied in late fall. Giant ragweed control from early- and late-spring herbicide applications was variable by year. In 2007, saflufenacil (50 and 100 g ai ha−1) and simazine applied in early spring reduced giant ragweed densities by 95% or greater through mid-May; however, in 2008, early-spring applications failed to reduce giant ragweed emergence in mid-April. The only treatments that reduced giant ragweed densities by > 80% through early July were late-spring applications of chlorimuron + tribenuron or saflufenacil at 100 g ha−1. Thus, the emergence patterns of giant ragweed in southern Illinois dictates that best management with herbicides would include late-spring applications of soil-residual herbicides just before crop planting and most likely requires subsequent control with foliar or soil-residual herbicides after crop emergence.