Plant Technology

While we have had an all around crappy spring, one of the things we have going for us is technology.  In the old days, like three or four years ago, we planted non-GMO sugarbeets.  These beets had a spray technique called micro rates.  As the name implies, we used a very small amount of herbicide in each application.  The goal was to basically stunt the growth of the weeds until the sugarbeet leaves would become big enough to cover the smaller weeds.  To make this work however, we had to spray frequently, about every week to ten days, or the weeds would start to grow, fast, and get out of control.  We’d end up spraying about 5 times until the beets got big enough to crowd out the weeds.  In addition, we would only spray the weeds in the beet row.  We would have to cultivate the ground in between the rows a couple of times a year to kill the weeds not touched with herbicide.

The frequency of spraying meant an incredible amount of luck had to be involved.  Besides the normal challenges of wind direction and humidity during spray season, we had to miss the showers for the fields to be dry enough to travel in.  At the same time, we also had to have enough rain to keep the beets growing.  If things didn’t work out we would have to hire airplanes to spray the fields.  Besides added expense of hiring someone to do your job, the planes didn’t always work the best.  For example, they may not get to the field in time, after all, if you need a plane, everyone else in the county probably needs one too.  Oh, and I almost forgot to mention, if the plane didn’t get the  job done, we’d hire migrant labor to hoe the weeds in the field.

The past few years we have been able to utilize Round Up Ready technology.  With Round Up, we spray twice a year.  We have a bigger window in how big the weeds can be before they get out of control so timing isn’t as critical.  This means if the field is to wet we can wait a few days and let it dry out before going in with a sprayer, and we don’t have to hire an airplane to do the job for us.  Also, the Round Up doesn’t affect the sugarbeet plant at all.   The micro rates affected everything it touched.  The beets would be stunted a day or two after an application.  This setback would cost a week or so of growth and negatively effect yield potential of the crop.

While this type of technology has its detractors, the reality is it saves fuel, saves headache, adds to the yield potential and quality of the crop grown, and does a better job all around than the old way of doing things.