Harvest Aid Herbicide Treatments for Wheat

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Photo credit – University of Nebraska (https://cropwatch.unl.edu/2019/post-harvest-weed-control-winter-wheat)

• Herbicide treatments at the hard dough stage in wheat can help with harvest efficiency and reduce weed seed production.
• If saving wheat grain for seed, be sure to check the germination of the treated seed before using next season.

Pre-harvest herbicide applications may be needed in wheat fields that have a lot of weed growth due to the recent wet weather patterns.  These herbicide applications address several issues such as harvest difficulties, dockage problems, weed seed production, and soil water depletion. A pre-harvest herbicide application can address these concerns. Although it may not be possible to recover lost yield potential due to weed interference, a pre-harvest treatment can go a long way toward reducing weed problems in future years by preventing seed production.

Herbicides labeled for use as harvest aids in wheat are listed in Table 1. There are differences in how quickly they act to control the weeds, the interval requirement between application and grain harvest, and the level or length of control achieved. All of these herbicide treatments will require thorough spray coverage to be most effective and can be used once wheat reaches the hard dough stage, which is usually defined as 30% grain moisture or lower. Consult the Growmark Crop Protection Handbook or the herbicide label for more details on herbicide use and weeds controlled.

Table 1. Selected herbicides labeled for use as a harvest aid treatments in winter wheat.