Cotton in rolled rye

While we appear to be winning the battle. I can see we are missing weeds with multiple methods of control, and we need better control to win the war in the long term. One thing I will say, I wish we had some straw or residue on these fields to shade the soil and prevent emergence of weeds. In these tilled and bedded soils I am confident that we are having to fight a little harder to control this weed than some of the farmers using a rye cover crop. I recently received  pictures from a farm in Jefferson County, FL that has herbicide resistant Palmer amaranth. They are using a high residue rye program to help choke out weeds with good success.

Dr. Culpepper, University of Georgia Weed Scientist, previously released a video called “Rolling High Rye for Conservation Tillage Cotton Success.”  This video describes the work of weed scientists at University of Georgia who have been documenting the same things these early adopters have seen on their farm. If you have 20 minutes, this is a well produced video that explains the system.