Keeping Crops Clean with Pre-Harvest Products
July 12, 2024 | Eastern Canada, Western Canada
Should you use pre-harvest products for weed control or for crop desiccations? With the right product and expert knowledge from P&H you could do both.
Pre-harvest products, like glyphosate, are used against hard-to-control perennials such as Canada Thistle and Quackgrass, best controlled during the fall when leaf area is at its maximum. In cereals, application timing and crop staging are critical for product uptake.
For cereals, a pre-harvest with application with glyphosate can only occur when the crop is at 30% or less moisture content.
Another reason to apply pre-harvest herbicide is for crop dry down. Certain pre-harvest products like diquat, saflufenacil, carefentrazone or Flumioxazin will help dry out the plant and accelerate the overall maturity and harvesting process. It can also help mitigate uneven crop growth and control weeds.
See our Pre-Harvest page for more information on various crop and pre-harvest product combinations.
Keeping It Clean
While pre-harvest and dry-down products are reliable and safe tools, ensuring their proper application, storage, and declaration is crucial for crops that will enter the global food supply.
For more information on pre-harvest products and timing, Keep it Clean has some great tools and resources. Check out their 5 Tips to Keep Your Crops Market-Ready.
The goal of Keeping It Clean is to provide knowledge helping farmers ensure crops meet the standards of domestic and export customers. Keep it Clean is a joint initiative of the Canola Council of Canada, Cereals Canada, Pulse Canada and the Prairie Oat Growers Association.
Talk to your grain buyer before desiccation
When considering pre-harvest products, it’s important to pinpoint your specific goals and crop types. It’s also important to check grain buyers’ declarations to ensure they accept grain treated with certain products. P&H will work with you to choose a product that meets your operation’s needs.