Chemical Control – Volunteer Oilseed Rape

Control of Volunteer Oilseed Rape

Good control can be achieved in cereals by using any of a range of different herbicides.

Products that contain picolinafen and/or pendimethalin give very good control when applied pre or very early post-emergence of the weed. Early control is preferable in order to allow crops to establish well and suffer less from competition. If sprays are delayed until the crop and weed are established then control of larger weed plants becomes more difficult and the crops will have already have suffered some yield loss.

Picolinafen controls a wide range of broad-leaved weeds. It primarily enters weeds through their shoots which means it provides good contact activity to control the weeds. However, picolinafen can also can be taken into weeds via their roots and so it can provide useful pre-emergence activity.

Pendimethalin controls a wide range of both grass and broad leaved weeds. It mainly enters weeds via their roots which means that it works best when applied before the weeds emerge. Pendimethalin also has strong residual activity which means that it gives the benefit of effective control of later germinating weeds.

The following table lists the products that contain picolinafen and/or pendimethalin and are available for use in cereal crops. To get the best control, all of these products should be used either pre or very early post-emergence of the weed.