Palmer Amaranth: A Notorious Pigweed
Prevention, prevention, prevention! That’s the best advice a grower can get about controlling Palmer amaranth pigweed infestations. What makes this particular weed so hard to manage?
Here’s some quick facts:
- Each female plant produces hundreds of thousands of seeds, so just a single weed can quickly turn into a severe problem. If let go, infestations can reach the point of no return where the only control option for a field is to completely mow it down.
- Unlike some weeds, Palmer amaranth has a long emergence period spanning the whole growing season. This means extra scouting and herbicide applications will be necessary if not controlled early.
- Unfortunately, Palmer amaranth is extremely good at developing herbicide resistance. This can be a serious problem for soybean growers because fewer post-emergence herbicide options exist compared to corn.
Need help identifying this weed? OSU professor Mark Loux has you covered. Check out his handy fact sheet.