As a fourth-generation Texas farmer, Roger Seggern knew he wanted to farm at an early age. He rotates his acres between cotton and corn and occasionally grows a little wheat. Seggern wants to keep weeds to a minimum in his fields. That’s one reason he plants PhytoGen® cottonseed with the Enlist® trait and incorporates Enlist herbicides in his weed control plan.
Roger Seggern makes no apologies for being a tough manager.
“I’m a hard boss to work for. I admit it,” Seggern says. “I want things to be just right, and that’s why I like the Enlist weed control system. It is just right.”
Seggern’s operation includes about 2,900 acres with 850 acres dedicated to cotton. As part of his weed control program, he rotates cotton after corn about every third year. He occasionally grows wheat on the hillsides.
Lessons learned on and off the farm have taught Seggern to be persistent. After graduating high school, Seggern attended college near his home, but his heart was back on the farm.
“I was working in a basement with no windows,” he recalls. “And it felt like the walls were closing in on me. I went back to the dorm and called home.”
His father didn’t give in quite so easily. He challenged Seggern to finish the semester. If he felt the same at semester’s end, they would talk about his coming back to the farm. Seggern didn’t change his mind. He came home and, in 1981, he took what he learned from his father and grandfather and farmed fields on his own for the first time.
As a fourth-generation farmer, Seggern continues to work some of the first land his great-grandfather purchased when he settled near Taylor, Texas, in the late 1800s.
Tough on weeds
When weeds sneak into his fields, Seggern does all he can to eliminate them. Several species of pigweed, including waterhemp, along with false ragweed and even sunflowers cause the most trouble. His typical approach to weed control in cotton includes applying a yellow herbicide early followed by a postemergence application of glufosinate. As a second postapplication, he’ll come back with either Enlist Duo® herbicide or a tank mix of Enlist One® herbicide and his preferred glyphosate.
“I love the flexibility and uses of the Enlist system,” Seggern says. “We had no trouble with volatility with Enlist Duo or Enlist One. Sprayer cleanout was easy as we went into corn.”
He likes the consistent weed control he gets with Enlist™ herbicides and the yield from PhytoGen® cottonseed is a plus. This year, Seggern has planted PhytoGen brand PHY 490 W3FE, PHY 480 W3FE and PHY 340 W3FE. He points out that he likes PHY 340 W3FE because it is an early to mid-maturing variety that he can plant on heavy ground and still get excellent yield.
Planting PhytoGen brand varieties with the Enlist trait simply makes sense to Seggern. “It’s really a no-brainer for us to plant Enlist® cotton,” he says.
A close eye on wind
Seggern pays close attention to wind speed and wind direction. He prefers to apply Enlist herbicides when the wind is between 3 and 5 mph, and he never applies at wind speeds above 10 mph. Communication plays a big role in maintaining good relationships with his neighbors. Seggern says he makes sure he knows what’s growing in surrounding fields before applying any herbicide.
“We don’t want to have any issues and we’ve never had any issues to this date,” he says. “We are really careful about it. We watch wind direction. We don’t want to hurt our neighbors.”
The support he receives from his PhytoGen representatives also factors into Seggern’s success.
“We get along well with our field reps,” he says. “When I call them, they have answers right away. I like it. They are a big plus, too, with PhytoGen.”
Enlist crop
Cotton
Problem weeds
Waterhemp, False ragweed, Sunflowers
Management practices
Minimum tillage, Nonirrigated