An Overview of Defoliation Observations - after the fact.
10-25-24
I’m writing this blog at a time when not many people are reading it, mainly to create a record before we start next year. So you might see these words again.
Evaluating the interval for picking after defoliating looks like it is taking about 2 weeks for areas of the field that were at 4 NACB or less and about 3 weeks for the areas that were not quite ready. It has probably been a little faster or slower based on the relationship of the cool weather with the timing of the spray. These later sprays will likey take a bit longer. Leaves are also coming off slower on those areas that were less mature. I see a little bit of brown leaves 2 weeks after spraying, but they are not stuck. This has happened across several defoliation programs including the 3-way and Finish.
I have had a chance to evaluate the 2 primary defoliation treatments that include the highest rate of Finish (43 oz.) as the core ingredient as well as a highest rate of Prep plus about 4 ounces of Dropp with only 4 ounces of Def which is the modern spin on the 3-way. The difference between these two options on performance seems very close to me around 2 weeks after spraying. The main variations of these two core options include a mix of all 4 ingredients listed above and/or substituting an herbicide for Def. Here are the takeaways for me to remember for next year although in another year, we may not have this much perfect weather:
- All the recipes produced very good and similar results. Probably a little bit more brown with 3-way and a little bit greener with Finish.
- High Prep rate plus Dropp and a very little Def acts like home made Finish. Finish and the 3-way benefit from adding a little extra Folex in cool weather but I don’t think we ever needed to be higher than 2 ounces Def with the high rate of Finish or 6 ounces with the 3-way.
- If you want to make a hybrid of both programs, substitute about 14 ounces of Finish with 1 pint of Prep + 1.5 oz. Drop. Although, I wouldn’t do this because it just complicates things. I would just use one of the 2 main programs.
- I think the herbicide substitution for Def is pretty equal as well now that we have greatly reduce Def rates and likewise the herbicide rate.
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