Weeds in potatoes

James Williams · Jun 6, 2013

I was just wondering what the BTO do to control weeds in there potatoes.Is there a chemical out there that will not hurt the potatoes but kill the weeds

jimmy

RayP(MI) · Jun 6, 2013

When I was a kid, we cultivated a couple times, last time through, with disks on the cultivator to hill the potatoes. Anything else was grab a hoe, and row by row.... Used the hoe to beat the weeds against to knock the dirt out of the root ball. Ten acres of weedy potatoes can look like an insurmountable task to a kid!

Lazy WP · Jun 6, 2013

Around here they spray a couple times a year, but I think that is for bugs, and fungus. Couldn't tell you what they use for weed control, but they do have clean fields.

John B. · Jun 6, 2013

My Dad use to use Treflan but that has to be incorporated into the soil before planting. Not sure what you can spray over the top of the potatoes.

Lou from Wi. · Jun 6, 2013

The grower we used to haul for did a couple thousand acres but just cultivated a couple times a season. Only spraying they did was for early and late blight and potatoe bugs. LOU

Handyman · Jun 6, 2013

Here in Idaho the main herbicide for potatoes is called Sencor, can be applied pre or post emergent on potatoes but will only control weeds that have not emerged yet. it needs to be incorporated into the soil through cultivation or irrigation.

RalphWD45 · Jun 7, 2013

Jimmy! Do you have any old moldy hay ,or wet straw? Maybe grass clippings? Mulch works well for me this year. I followed Old's advice, and planted , and covered the rows with old hay that the cows were wasting, The potatoes cameup through the hay, and just this past week some weeds and grass were poking thru. I cut the weeds off, and added more hay, and watered it down. The potatoes are happy now, and starting to bloom.

Roy in UK · Jun 7, 2013

I bet that is the same chemical we used to use in The UK when we grew potatoes. "Sencorex". I seem to remember the only thing it would not control was cleavers, which maybe an unknown weed across the pond.

GeneMO · Jun 7, 2013

If I was doing it in my own garden, I would use Dachtal. It is labeled for all sorts of garden and landscaping use. It prevents germination of seeds, so it needs to be used post emergence. Like on pumpkins, you wait till they are in the two or three leaf stage, cultivate, then apply the dachtal and work it in.

We use to use Sencore in soybeans. I remember it being pretty "hot" and would set the beans back and burn them. Dont think I would want to eat taters with sencore applied, but then who knows what all is used and we dont know it.

Gene

Mike (WA) · Jun 7, 2013

You may regret the hay mulch, Ralph- if its the normal "local" grass hay we have around here. I tried it once, and it did a beautiful job of seeding my garden to grass! By the time I got rid of the grass over the next couple of years, I was wishing I had the old weeds back again.

I have used lawn clippings as mulch, but when wet it becomes a real slug magnet.

I have a Stihl "Kombi" tool- basically a weedeater with a joint in the middle of the tube, to which you can attach other tools- in my case, a little Mantis-like rototiller. I really works great for weeds when they're small- just a walk up and down the rows once in awhile pretty much takes care of the weeds.

Anonymous-0 · Jun 7, 2013

I think your too late for the common herbicides used for potatoes at this time. I think you will do more damage than good using a weed killer.

You probably need to hoe them and pull the weeds by hand then cultivate or hill right after depending on how tall.

Weeds in potatoes

James Williams

Well-known Member

RayP(MI)

Well-known Member

Lazy WP

Well-known Member

John B.

Well-known Member

Lou from Wi.

Well-known Member

Handyman

Member

RalphWD45

Well-known Member

Roy in UK

Well-known Member

GeneMO

Well-known Member

Mike (WA)

Well-known Member

Anonymous-0

Well-known Member

Similar threads