Todd Lay grows corn, soybeans and alfalfa near Glenvil, Nebraska, with his two sons. Nearly all of their acres are irrigated. Lay is growing corn with the Enlist® trait this year because he needs better weed control. He believes Enlist herbicides are a good fit for his farm with neighboring soybeans.
For Todd Lay, the decision about whether to continue using Mycogen® hybrids with the Enlist trait has already been made. The performance of Enlist Duo® herbicide this summer has convinced him to try the technology again.
“The weed control was excellent,” Lay says. “We controlled our Palmer amaranth and waterhemp.”
Lay, of Glenvil, Nebraska, started out with Resicore® corn herbicide, which offers residual activity. He followed postemergence with Enlist Duo herbicide and says he didn’t have to use anything else this year.
“We've had some isolated areas with weed issues,” he reports. “This year it’s clean. There are no weeds there.”
It’s been a good year for corn and soybean yield for Lay. His corn is coming in about 10-15 bushels above average with about 80 percent harvested. He says the Enlist® hybrids are yielding as good as or better than his other hybrids.
Just as important, he says Enlist Duo stayed on target during application and didn’t volatilize afterward.
“It wasn’t that hard to find time to spray according to the label direction,” Lay says. “We didn’t see any drift. We sprayed some near a neighbor’s conventional soybeans and some near our own soybeans. We saw no issues with ours and had no complaints from the neighbor.”
Some of his irrigation pivots are half corn, half soybeans. Even conventional soybeans right next to Enlist hybrids were unaffected.
“Enlist Duo doesn’t seem to have the volatility we have with other products,” Lay says. “Tank cleanout is easy, too. We just triple rinse, which is what we always do.”
Lay’s experience has convinced him the Enlist™ weed control system has a place on his farm.
“I’ve already ordered more Enlist corn for next year,” he says. “Some people around here planted it so they could use DuPont Assure® II herbicide to control volunteer corn.”
He talks with other area farmers and will tell them about Enlist® herbicide use in his fields. His message: “It works. It doesn’t drift. It’s as simple as that.”
Herbicide-resistant Palmer amaranth and waterhemp have been creating increasing problems for Todd Lay. The Glenvil, Nebraska, farmer planted Enlist™ corn this year because he likes what he’s seen with Enlist Duo® herbicide.
“Some of my soybeans have been burned by drift this year,” Lay says. “I don’t want herbicides I use to drift into other fields. I think Enlist Duo is a better option for me than other new herbicides.”
Lay raises corn, soybeans and alfalfa, with nearly all his acres under irrigation. He uses a combination of ridge tillage and vertical tillage, planting on the ridges. Weed control has been a challenge.
“We did a burndown with Resicore herbicide and glyphosate to start off clean,” Lay says. “I applied Enlist Duo postemergence. The application was excellent. It was easy to apply. I saw no drift or volatility.”
In addition to a lack of drift, Lay says, there was a lack of the traditional strong 2,4-D odor. “It didn’t have the normal 2,4-D smell,” he says.
While on-target application is important to Lay, so is weed control. The results have been satisfying.
“We sprayed two weeks ago and have excellent weed control,” he says. “It knocked down the Palmer, and the glyphosate took care of the grasses.”
It’s important to Lay to provide multiple herbicide modes of action from burndown through postemergence applications. Because Enlist Duo contains 2,4-D choline and glyphosate, he’s getting two modes of action with one postemergence application.
“We may only apply a single postemergence treatment this year,” he says. “We were considering a second application of Enlist Duo, but the first really has weeds under control.”
Lay says if you apply according to the label, Enlist Duo herbicide stays on target.
“I feel it’s part of using these new herbicides,” he says. “It’s our responsibility. We’ve got to follow the label these days. It doesn’t take long to read the label. Following the requirements is not a problem.”
Enlist crop
Corn
Problem weeds
Palmer amaranth, Waterhemp
Management practices
Ridge-tillage and vertical tillage, Irrigated