Strategies to improve weed control in Liberty Link

Liberty works best when applied with water volumes of 10 gallons per acre and when temperatures are warm. “When I worked in retail, we eliminated almost all Liberty performance issues by going to 10 gpa (Imperial),” says Ingrid Kristjanson, crop specialist for Manitoba Agriculture, Food and Rural Initiatives.

Clark Brenzil, weed management specialist with Saskatchewan Ministry of Agriculture, adds: “Most control issues for herbicides that rely heavily on contact activity, such as Liberty, are related to insufficient water carrier volumes or late staging. Growers almost need to treat carrier water as their other active ingredient.”

Kristjanson and Brenzil provide further tips for weed control in a Liberty Link system:

—If wild oats and other grassy weeds emerge before broadleaf weeds, it might be a good option to go in with a Group 1, then follow up later with Liberty. With heavy grass populations, the mix of Liberty plus Select or Centurion works well. Note: Producers should realize that if Liberty alone is not giving adequate control of their wild oats, a Liberty plus Select or Centurion tank mix is not a good strategy for managing Group 1 resistant wild oats.
—With the movement of the technology fee from the Liberty herbicide to the seed and the option for higher use rates of Liberty, better control of grass weeds may be achieved with Liberty alone, improving options for Group 1 wild oat management while remaining economical.
—When using Lontrel to manage Canada thistle, it should be a split application before or after Liberty. When applying a systemic such as Lontrel on thistles, it should be done before the Liberty application otherwise it needs to wait until the thistles recover following the Liberty application so that it can be taken into the plants. For decent control, Canada thistle should have good leaf area for contact. Remember that Canada thistle is 3 to 4 times more competitive than wild oats. Research from AAFC in Lacombe, Alta., shows it only takes 10 Canada thistle shoots per square metre to cause a 10% yield loss in canola. For more on this, read the Canola Council of Canada factsheet, “How many weeds are too many?”

For the final word on herbicide rates and timing, consult the provincial guide to crop protection. Click on your province for a link to your guide: Alberta Saskatchewan Manitoba