Preemergence Herbicide Treatments Behind the Cotton Planter

Apr 20, 2021

By Steve Li

Cotton planting will be in full swing in just another week or two. One thing that I cannot emphasize enough is to START CLEAN (free of weeds), particularly in no-till fields. A single-pass burndown treatment is often not enough. It is hard to kill everything in no-till fields with a single burndown treatment, particularly when weeds are tall and thick. A second-pass pre-plant burndown treatment, or a follow-up application of Gramoxone with soil herbicides behind the planter is needed to START CLEAN. Otherwise, some weeds that “appear to be dead” may recover and regrow. Sometimes burndown treatments only injure foliage and the readily visible plant canopy (leaving growing points, crowns, and roots alive); resulting in weeds that fully recover in a few days to exert competition to the crop.

Dr. Steve Li, Auburn Weed Scientist

I recommend using two-way mixes as PRE treatments. They provide both a broader weed control spectrum and longer duration control. A few effective treatments I’ve evaluated in recent years include:

Reflex + Cotoran (best treatment on broadleaf weeds such as sicklepod, morning glory, teaweed and pigweed)
Reflex + Warrant* (best treatment on annual grasses and pigweed)
Reflex + Brake (best treatment on pigweed)
Cotoran + Warrant* (best treatment on heavy soils where Reflex does not fit well)
Cotoran + Brake (best treatment for pigweed and broadleaf weeds on heavy textured soils).

*Application of Warrant herbicide is legal in Florida, but it cannot be sold in Florida

Use rates for these herbicides in two-way mixes on sandy loam soils are: Reflex 8-10 oz/A, Cotoran 1 pt/A, Warrant 2 pt/A, Brake 16 oz/A. Rates for these herbicides in two-way mixes on silt loam soils are: Reflex 10 oz/A, Cotoran 1.5 pt/A, Warrant 2.5 pt/A, Brake 20 oz/A. Rainfall or irrigation within 3-4 days after application is needed to properly activate these herbicides.

If you run into a dry spell in May and there is no chance of rain in the next 7-10 days after planting, one alternative is to apply PRE-treatments over smooth, prepared seed beds prior to planting … just ahead of rain that will eventually come. The purpose is to get herbicides activated by rainfall, then utilize the moisture to get a crop stand after the rain. A pass by a strip-till may facilitate cotton emergence by breaking any crust layer at the soil surface caused by heavy rain and reduce herbicide injury.

Source : ufl.edu

Video: Understanding the Basics of the Renewable Fuel Standard

On Friday, April 24, 2026, from 12 noon–1:00 ET, the Penn State Center for Agricultural and Shale Law, alongside the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture’s (PDA) Agricultural Business Development Center (ABDC), presented this webinar in the Understanding Agricultural Law Educational Series, a course designed to develop subject matter literacy and competence on fundamental issues of agricultural law for attorneys and business advisors who work with or represent agricultural or rural clients but may not necessarily specialize in agricultural law:

“Understanding the Basics of the Renewable Fuel Standard”

The Clean Air Act’s Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) program requires transportation fuel sold in the United States to contain a minimum volume of renewable fuels such as ethanol, biodiesel, or advanced biofuels. Established by the Energy Policy Act of 2005 and later expanded by the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007, the RFS is implemented by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in collaboration with the Department of Energy and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).

This webinar provides an overview of the legal authority and structure for the RFS program and explain how it works, including the program’s system of Renewable Identification Numbers (RINs) and categories of renewable fuels. Additionally, this webinar addresses EPA annual volume requirement rulemaking and associated recent legal issues.