Waterhemp remains one of the most costly weed threats in this region. BASF Technical Representative Eric Schultz says this weed can reduce soybean yields by as much as 70 percent. “There aren’t too many more scary things than even a single emerged waterhemp plant.” The urgency surrounding waterhemp has ramped up. “The University of Minnesota continues to monitor resistance for different herbicides and different groups of herbicides for waterhemp, and their latest announcement was the confirmed population of waterhemp in southern Minnesota that’s resistant to glufosinate ammonium; that would be the active ingredient for herbicides such as Liberty herbicide and that’s one of our main tools that are relied upon for emerged waterhemp control, especially in soybean crop systems.” Schultz advocates residual herbicides and controlling waterhemp before it gets out of the ground.
