WEED OF THE WEEK: QUICK KEYS TO CONTROL*
 
Roundup, 2,4-D, and Sencor are the only products labeled for control of rough fleabane.

In corn: Put Axiom or Balance down, go post with Distinct and Clarity.

In soybeans: Use Sencor down, your only post-emerge choice is Roundup on Roundup Ready soybeans.

*Please read transcript below for further explanation of recommendations, or call 1-800-274-3389 (Mon-Fri. 8am-5pm CT, Sat. 8am-12noon CT) with any questions.

WEED OF THE WEEK - ROUGH FLEABANE
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B: Well, if you were able to identify today's weed, you're pretty good. This weed isn't talked about much, but it is our weed of the week. It's rough fleabane.
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D: While I'm sure many of you may have guessed annual fleabane, that is a different weed than rough fleabane…
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B: …and of course it is also different than horseweed fleabane. Well, we'll talk about all these fleabanes, coming up.
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D: We'll also show you how to identify and eliminate rough fleabane, and talk about the uses this plant may have.
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B: Let's start with identification. Rough fleabane is an annual weed that comes up early in the spring. Rough fleabane can also be a biennial plant, but that is very rare.
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D: Rough fleabane has simple leaf blades that run alternately up the stem. The leaves are mostly linear and shape with short hairs. The leaves are also larger toward the base of the plant.
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B: The stem also has short hairs, and it branches only toward the top of the plant. The root system contains both a taproot and fibrous roots.
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D: When the plant gets bigger, it is easier to identify due to the white flowers that surround a set of yellow disk flowers. The small seeds of this plant are enclosed in what's called achene. An achene is a very small fruit. Each achene contains only 1 seed.
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B: Rough fleabane is very similar to annual fleabane, but annual fleabane is taller and has more leaves. Horseweed fleabane, otherwise known as marestail, is another similar plant. However, marestail has considerably more leaves, less branching at the top of the plant, and much smaller white and yellow flowers.
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D: None of these fleabanes have much use in society. With rough fleabane, sheep and deer occasionally feed on young plants, but most other animals will not eat it. In the old days, Native Americans used to make a tea from this plant to treat rheumatism, sore mouths, and other ailments.
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B: One of the big problems with rough fleabane is that if you want to control it, there aren't too many herbicide options. The only labeled products are Roundup; 2,4-D; and Sencor. Fortunately, rough fleabane is usually only found along roadsides, where 2,4-D can be used.
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D: If rough fleabane does happen to get in your fields, here's what we suggest. For corn, try Axiom or Balance down. Remember that Balance can only be used in states where labeled. Post-emerge, Roundup on Roundup Ready corn will work great. Otherwise, expect to get pretty good performance out of Distinct or Clarity. Also, Liberty and Lightning should be fairly effective, too. Just make sure to plant the right corn if you want to use Liberty or Lightning.
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B: Turning to soybeans, use Sencor down. Post-emerge, your only choice is Roundup on Roundup Ready beans, as nothing will be very good in conventional soybeans. That's it. Like we said, there aren't a lot of choices when you're trying to stop rough fleabane.
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D:Once again, rough fleabane has linear leaves that run alternately up the stem. It is easy to identify when it gets big because of its white flowers that surround a set of yellow disk flowers.
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B: To control rough fleabane, use Roundup, Sencor, or 2,4-D.