DIO —Lancaster Farming, Saturday, March 19,1983
UNIVERSITY PARK - Far
mers who participate in the
government’s Payment in Kind
(PIK) program this season will be
inclined to idle their less
productive acres.
When making that decision,
Nathan Hartwig, Extension weed
control specialist at Penn State,
says farmers can “improve their
longterm profitability by diverting
those areas most severely infested
with problem perennial weeds.
“Several grassy weeds offer
potential for reduction on diverted
acres,” says Dr. Hartwig. “These
would include quackgrass,
wirestem muhly, shattercane and
johnsongrass. Broadleaf weeds
that should be worked on include
horsenettle, hemp dogbane,
common milkweed and Canada
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PIK acres will need weed control
thistle, which is on our noxious
weed list.”
Under PIK rules, a grower must
control weeds on his idled acres.
The rules state; “A farm operator
shall, in a timely manner, use
needed control measures for
erosion, insects, weeds and rodents
on the conservation use acreage.”
Failure to do so can result in a
reduction or complete loss of
program benefits. What are the
control options? There are really
only two: mechanical or chemical.
Mechanical weed control could
include clipping or tillage.
Clipping does not kill weeds but
can prevent them from setting
seed and increasing future weed
control problems. In the case of
perennial weeds, clipping will not
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control growth of underground
rootstock.
Tillage poses a number of
problems. First, it’s expensive in
terms of equipment, fuel and
labor.
Second, it often compounds the
problems by spreading the
perennial’s reproductive root
systems and by turning up annual
weed seeds so they can germinate.
Third, it enhances the op
portunity for wind and water
erosion, which must be controlled
to comply with PIK regulations. A
cover crop, which is required to
protect the soil from erosion unless
a farmer requests and receives
ASCS permission to leave the
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ground as stubble from the
previous crop, will not usually
provide adequate supression of
weed growth. Tillage as a means of
weed control only serves to destroy
the soil conservation benefits of the
cover crop or stubble.
Chemical control
It should be a farmer’s goal to
keep expenses to a minimum on
PK-idled acres, according to the
university weed control specialist.
Complying with the erosion and
weed control requirements of the
program, will incur some costs, so
examine each expense carefuly.
While there’s no return on tillage
costs, an investment in chemical
weed control can pay dividends for
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several years to come.
By diverting acres with severe
weed problems and making a
small investment in the sound
herbicide program, growers can
bring the weeds under control so
the land can be returned to
maximum production in future
years. And since the land is idle,
farmers have maximum flexibility
in both herbicide choice and ap
plicatin timing.
Plan program
While the treatment season is
still months away, a grower needs
to plan now to set aside those
fields, or portions of fields, with
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