Page '4—Com Talk, Lancaster Farming, Saturday, October' 11, 1957
To Control Sweet Corn Weeds, What’s A Grower
ANDY ANDREWS
Lancaster Farming Staff
LANDISVILLE (Lancaster
Co.) Growers don’t have a
lot of herbicides labeled for use
in sweet com and what’s out
there requires careful manage
ment to be used properly on the
fields, according to a Penn Stale
research station manager.
John Yocum, who manages
the Penn State Extension
Southeast Research Laboratory
in Landisville, reviewed the
work on variety and herbicide
trials on sweet com at the
station.
Yocum spoke to about 30
growers and agri-industry rep
resentatives during the first
Southeast Pennsylvania Sweet
Com Twilight Meeting at the
Landisville station early in
August.
Growers are limited to two
product groups, according to
Yocum. One is Dual/Lasso,
which unfortunately misses the
triazine-resistant lambsquarters
that pose more of a control
challenge for growers. The
other product, Tough, if it ever
Growers had a chance to taste the varieties of sweet
corn grown at the station. Here, Cedar Eckert, New
Oxford, tastes a sample.
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gets labeled for sweet com,
does an excellent job in con
trolling lambsquarters, accord
ing to Yocum.
Tough is sprayed post
emergence. While different
herbicides can have injurious
effects on com (particularly
shrunken-2 varieties), Yocum
noted that Tough looks fairly
safe to use.
Other products that can be
used on com include 2,4-D,
which works well in control of
lambsquarters and bindweed,
and Bicep.
The station made use of a
shielded sprayer in test applica
tions, working well to limit drift
and maximize use of material
on weeds.
Growers could someday see
a Roundup-resistant sweet com
variety. Already, work is being
done to develop Roundup
resistant potatoes. One of the
reasons, Yocum believes, that it
is taken so long is the general
horticultural industry’s resis
tance to some of the more wide
ranging breakthroughs in gene
tic engineering.
,jut 30 growers and agri-industry representatives attended the first
Southeast Pennsylvania Sweet Corn Twilight Meeting at the station early In
August. There, they tasted a variety of sweet corn grown at the station.
While agronomic growers of
com silage or shelled com
simply “run it through a
machine,” sweet com growers
“worry about flag leaves, depth
of kernel, fullness of ear all
those things,” said Yocum.
Sweet com growers are con
cerned about ramifications of
the use of pesticides on crops to
be consumed by humans. But
some of the more disease
resistant crop varieties being
grown, along with the applica
tion of IPM and other strate
gies, are helping to produce a
crop that is environmentally
safe at a less expensive cost.
Another concern is residues.
Tough virtually has no residue,
unlike other materials, Yocum
noted. But the product is more
effective when the weeds are
caught at a smaller growth
MER
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stage, postemergence, said
Yocum.
At the meeting, a demonstra
tion on vacuum seeders, for
more accurate seeding rate, was
provided by a local equipment
dealer.
Tim Elkner, Lancaster horti
culture agent, also spoke at the
August meeting regarding inte
grated pest management (IPM)
strategies. But growers should
use a healthy plant to start with,
as the first line of defense in
controlling disease and insect
challenges.
“You should match the type
of soil you are using to the crop
grown in order to get the maxi
mum growth out of that crop,”
Elkner said.
An important step is to care
fully monitor insect pressure,
such as com earworm, through
To Use?
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the use of traps. Scouting for
earworms, fall armyworms,
Japanese beetles, and other
sweet com pests is essential in a
successful IPM program.
Growers can find out what
kinds of traps are most useful
by contacting their local exten
sion agent.
Growers can also make use
of disease and insect forecast
ing methods, including Blight
cast from Penn State, to reduce
the use of pesticides and save
on applications.
At the August meeting,
which reviewed the 20 varieties
of sweet com grown at the sta
tion, Elkner told those attend
ing to talk to seed industry rep
resentatives and other growers.
Also, a helpful hint in selling
(Turn to Pago 5)