Monday, November 30, 2020

Sunflowers in South Dakota...

Sunflowers. Surprisingly a very popular crop in central and western South Dakota. 

Kochia is also a popular weed in the same areas of South Dakota. 

And Mike K. near Gettysburg, South Dakota was familiar with the problem. Mike met with Todd, got the proper balance of herbicide, Poseidon, and AMS, and applied to his field of sunflower and kochia. Within hours, the burn down was taking place between the end rows with no Poseidon application to compared to the remaining rows. 

Mike's neighbor, a couple miles down the road had the same problem, kochia in sunflowers. The neighbor had gone to his local agronomist to get application for weed control. With unsuccessful result, the company told him he had herbicide resistant weeds and they were unable to kill the kochia. 

We at Poseidon are not saying weeds are "resistant" per say, but that they have become more tolerant of the RoundUp. To be successful you must have the surface tension broken up by using 2 quarts of Poseidon per 100 gallons of finished product. By doing so, you are making those products, RoundUp or otherwise, work the way they are supposed to. 

A Story About Bob...

 Bob D. lives near Wayne, NE. Back in 1996, Bob bought a farm and there was a patch at that time of scouring rush. If you haven't had the unfortunate privilege of dealing with this weed, consider yourself LUCKY. Scouring rush is a type of bamboo weed, it was carried over during the age of dinosaurs, and needless to say is resilient. 

 Bob had been dealing with the issues for years. Companies had told him there was nothing he could do. What started as a small patch, spread into 16 acres of non-farmable, non-profitable land. Bob reached out to Todd. With an effective mix of Poseidon, RoundUp, and AMS, Bob finally saw success. Within 3 weeks, the scouring rush can be seen turning brown and crisping up. (See photo). 

What was noticed was a few stems of green poking through the burn. Bob and Todd pulled those out, and low and behold, it was rotting from the inside out! This is was the first time since 1996 Bob was able to see any type of kill with the scouring rush. This past spring (2020), Bob was able to plant into that 16 acres. He planted soybeans, and by May 31, 2020, he was able to see rows of crop. By June 30, 2020, Bob completed another application of the solution. By July 10, 2020, the weed was once again photographed, turning black from the application, and the beans thriving. (See photo).

On September 15, 2020, Bob had waist high beans, with few sights of scouring rush. The canopy had taken over, protecting the plant and giving no light for the weed to overtake. On October 1, 2020, Bob harvested the once desolate field. His result, an average 66 bushels per acre. The first profitable harvest on those 16 acres in over 20 years. 

It will take more treatments of the Poseidon, RoundUp and AMS solution to continue the control of the noxious weed, but for the first time in over 20 years, Bob has some hope. 

Water Hemp and RoundUp Control - Wessington, SD

This is a story about Joe F. in Wessington, South Dakota. 

Joe had over 2,000 acres of crop land he was unable to spray, fertilize or even plant due to a few tough years of local flooding. The result... water hemp - waist high. Joe was besides himself looking for any means of resolution. He contacted his local agronomist, and to no avail, was basically told he was "S.O.L". 

Joe reached out to owner and dealer, Todd Hakl, and asked if he knew of anything that could help. Todd told him point blank, "if you use 6 ounces of Poseidon with generic RoundUp and your AMS, we can make RoundUp work like it did when it first came out on the market." 

You see, many people believe that RoundUp simply just doesn't work anymore, and that just isn't the case. What needs to be done is the surface tension needs to be broken up so the product is absorbed into the veins of the plant. RoundUp is a root killer and can be extremely effective.

We know, for example, the surface tension to be a baseline of 75. By putting water on the leaf, at the one quart per 100 gallon, which will modify the surface tension to a rating of just over 30. We have found over the course of testing, to make RoundUp have the best results and effectiveness that the best solution is 2 quarts per 100 gallons of finished spray product. 

Also, and we can't say this loudly enough... you should never go over 10 gallons of RoundUp per acre.

So let's get back to Joe's story.

After going over this information with him, he was willing to try anything. A little fact on just how out of control this water hemp had gotten: at the end of each row, Joe would have to get out of the machine and clear the booms of hung up water hemp. He mixed up the solution as directed by Todd, over all 2,000 acres of water hemp.  Within 72 hours, the water hemp was laying flat on the ground. 

Over the years, Todd has heard the saying many times, "yeah - you can make a weed sick. But can you kill it?" Well, after just 10 days - Joe had done it. 

Joe went to his neighbor's and sprayed two separate quarter sections for a neighbor who had planted soybeans, using the same rate as suggested to him by Todd. He was also struggling with water hemp taking over. The neighbor was thrilled with the results, stated he had perfect control over his RoundUp ready beans, and had some of the best yields ever.