March 5, 2025 • 35 mins
This week we have Dr. Michael Walsh with Charles Sturt University on the podcast to talk about the “weed chipper”. The weed chipper is a mechanical weeding implement that could be an answer to herbicide resistant weeds. Listen now to find out how the weed chipper works!
To see the weed chipper in action: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-1nI6Gh9khI
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Alyssa Essman (00:06):
Welcome back to the War Against Weeds podcast.
This is Alyssa Essman, WeedScience extension specialist for
Ohio State and today, my co hostis Joe Ikley, North Dakota State
University. How's it going todayJoe?
Joe Ikley (00:18):
Going pretty well. We're back above zero fahrenheit
for one of the few times thisFebruary as we're recording. So
no real complaints.
Alyssa Essman (00:28):
Awesome. Well, today we're joined by a co host,
actually across the world, soprobably a lot different weather
conditions where he's at. So Sotoday we have Michael Walsh. Do
you want to tell us a little bitabout where you're at and what
you do Michael?
Michael Walsh (00:44):
Yeah, sure. Hi. Alyssa, hi. Joe, yeah. So it's a
balmy 25 degrees Celsius here inWagga in New South Wales. So I'm
on the campus of Charles SturtUniversity where I'm a professor
of plant science andhorticulture, focusing on weed
control in cropping systems,grain production systems in
(01:06):
particular,
Alyssa Essman (01:07):
awesome. Well, thank you for joining us. We've
brought Michael on today to talkabout kind of a fun, interesting
topic. I know, one of thequestions Joe and I get are,
sometimes, how can we use, youknow, mechanical weed control,
along with our comprehensiveherbicide programs. And so we're
talking today all about targetedtillage. And so this is an area
(01:29):
where Michael has someexperience and can kind of shed
some light on some of theresearch and activities around
this targeted tillage. So beforewe get into some of that,
Michael, could you describe tous a little bit what is meant by
this term, targeted tillage.
Michael Walsh (01:44):
Yeah, sure. So targeted tillage is really
about, I guess we call it sitespecific weed control, but with
a spot tillage practice, if youlike. So you're concentrating a
tillage action around the weedtarget for a site specific weed
control output or outcome.
Alyssa Essman (02:04):
So in reading about some of this work, you
talk a little bit about theorigins, and I think that's kind
of a fun story. So could youtell us a little bit of the
background of this approach andhow you started studying
targeted tillage? Yeah,
Michael Walsh (02:19):
it is a fun story. It's a story that came
out of, well, harvest weed seedcontrol, actually. So harvest
weed seed control is a nonchemical weed control tactic
that we've been working on formany years, and through the peer
to peer learning process that wedeveloped in trying to get
farmers on board with harvestweed seed control, used to take
(02:40):
growers around to visit othergrower groups and talk about,
you know, their experiences withthis weed novel weed control
practice. So one one day, wewere visiting a farm, and the
one of the leading proponents ofharvest weed seed control was
walking ahead of us, talking tothe owner of the farm, and
(03:01):
they're walking across a fallowso in that part in where they
were, which was in southernQueensland, the fallow phase
occurs over summer, where it'sall about maintaining a
completely weed free area tostore moisture for the
subsequent winter crop. And asthey were walking along, the the
owner, the farmer, was walkingfrom weed to weed and just
(03:24):
kicking these weeds out with hiswith his boots. And the farmer
who was walking with him wasnoticing this, and when we
rejoined the group, he cameover, and he's all excited. He
said, Did you see that? Did yousee that this guy was just
kicking out the weeds with hisboots? How easy would that be to
come up with some sort ofmechanical tool that just kick
the weeds out? And that's howthe whole idea of targeted
(03:49):
tillage came about. We'relooking at just essentially
kicking out weeds in a low weeddensity situation, to just stop
these weeds from using moistureand nutrients and having
detrimental effects onsubsequent crop crop. So
Subsequently, we got a projectfunded by the Grains Research
(04:11):
and Development Corporation, andwe worked with some mechanical
engineers at the University ofWestern Australia, and we came
up with what the farmer referredto as a weed kicking device for
what we call now as targetedtillage, and we've actually
named it the weed chipper,right? So the weed chipper has
(04:32):
been developed as a targetedtillage implement, and the aim
for the use of that implement isto target low density weed
populations. You know, in afallow phase, it's quite
aggressive, but very effectiveon large weeds. And essentially,
what the scenario that you'relooking at is that you've got
(04:52):
weeds surviving the firstherbicide treatment of the
fallow. They're typically at lowdensities. And so you come. Back
in with this weed chipper, andyou take out the survivors, and
the effect is not only weedcontrol, but you're probably
also going to be removingherbicide resistant weeds that
are left surviving after initialherbicide treatment.
Joe Ikley (05:14):
That was going to be my follow up question, has this
so far been implemented mainlyafter an initial or maybe even a
second herbicide pass, so higherlikelihood of herbicide
resistant weeds being targeted,so you've kind of gotten rid of
the rest of the weeds and takingout the survivors with this
system.
Michael Walsh (05:33):
Yeah, that's right, Joe. So the because it is
a tillage implement, the aim isto, well, the use is for low
weed densities. And so wetypically refer to a weed
density of, say, one plant per10 square meters. Anything much
higher than that results in toomuch soil disturbance and
doesn't then fit with ourconservation agriculture
(05:56):
programs. So yeah, we aredefinitely looking at low weed
densities. Now that may be aninitial emergence is quite low,
but most commonly, it's afteryou had one or two broad
spectrum herbicides appliedacross the whole field. You're
taking out survivors, andpotentially any sort of late
emerges as well. So the timingof use in terms of achieving
(06:21):
effective weed control can be,it can be anytime, real, really,
because it's a tillage basedweed control, it's not really
limited by the weather, otherthan if it's actually raining or
straight after rain. So there'snot the same limitations with
this weed control activity, asit is with herbicides. So you
(06:43):
potentially when you're able touse it, you can use it 24/7,
around the clock, but yeah, thelimitations are if the soil is
wet. So tillage based weedcontrol works best when you've
got a drying soil environment.So you obviously rain and
immediately after rainfall isnot an ideal condition.
Joe Ikley (07:03):
And so maybe to back a little bit up here, just
thinking through this wholesystem, because it might be
foreign to many of ourlisteners. And I know Sarah is
not joining us today, but she'llprobably have some no till
fallow folks that they'relistening in. And this really
would be targeting the annualweeds within the system, because
we're not really going toprobably remove many perennials
(07:25):
or or have you tried that?Maybe?
Michael Walsh (07:28):
Um, yeah, we can. We can remove perennials so we
it's effective on return cotton.So that can be cotton plants
that have survived over into thenext season and are quite large
and difficult to control becauseit is a very aggressive tool.
It's quite a high impact whenthe implement engages with the
(07:51):
soil, and probably should havedescribed that action a little
bit more closely. Yeah. Sogetting back to your question,
Joe, it's typically in ourproduction systems, in our
annual production systems, wehave annual weeds. We don't tend
to have a lot of perennial weedspersisting from one year to the
next. So yeah, they are theprimary target. But yeah, as I
(08:13):
said, they can. This system canpotentially be used for on quite
large perennial weeds if needed.Yeah,
Joe Ikley (08:19):
we're it's always going to vary based on where,
what state you're in, for thoselistening from the States, but I
mean, I look at this as some ofour perennial weeds. We have
foxtail barley, it's a Hordeumspecies that is pretty shallow
rooted that will probably be agood fit. But we also have some
Canada thistle and some deeprooted perennials that may be a
(08:41):
little bit different.
Michael Walsh (08:42):
Yeah, sure that should have no problems with
those. I probably feel as thoughI should have described the time
action before this point too.
Joe Ikley (08:55):
I was going to ask that. And then also, I know
there's videos. So Michael, ifyou know of name of a search
term for the video. We canalways link it to show notes
too, because it's a prettyinteresting thing to watch. So
probably worth describing thataction, and we'll also link the
videos to it, yeah. So
Michael Walsh (09:11):
the the action of the target tillage implement is
based around what we refer to asthe response time. So it's a
typical cultivator time with ahydraulic breakout. So instead
of a spring breakout system, ithas a hydraulic cylinder that
acts as the breakout if the tinehas hits a rock or something
(09:33):
like that. That's in its normaloperation. When set up as as
targeted tillage, the system isadjusted with additional springs
that actually hold the time outof the soil. So the time travels
at about 10 centimeters abovethe soil surface, or maybe a
little bit higher, held in thatposition by these these springs.
(09:56):
The hydraulic tine is still, thehydraulic ram is pressurized.
And when a weed is detected,that RAM is triggered to push
that time quite rapidly into thesoil. So from standby to soil
engagement and then back to sandstandby, all happens within
(10:17):
point three of a second. So itis very fast, very rapid, and
has essentially been developedto achieve, if needed, a weed
control action every metertraveling at 12 kilometers per
hour. So it could actually be avery rapid tillage operation if
needed,
Alyssa Essman (10:38):
could you describe to us then how this
system knows when the weeds arethere. Like, how are we
detecting it to trigger this,this rapid response time system?
Yeah, so
Michael Walsh (10:52):
the detection system that we've got on the
weed chipper at the moment isessentially just a reflectance
based detector, so somethinglike a weeded or a weed seeker
system, because the weed chipperhas been developed and is being
used in fallow weed control. Soanything that's green, anything
growing in those situations, isconsidered a weed. So a fairly
(11:15):
simple sensor based detectionsystem is used. We are looking
at reconfiguring the timearrangement so we can
potentially use it for rowcrops. So we might want to use
it in sorghum or cotton or evencorn, I suppose, in the US, in
the early stages of growingseason. And in that scenario,
(11:38):
you would have potentially usemore sophisticated detection
systems, so maybe a camera basedweed recognition system that
would trigger the tines when aweed is detected.
Joe Ikley (11:51):
That was my follow up was, if you've gone that pathway
and sounds like you are, becausethat's the first follow up
question I know I'll get, is,can we use this inter row within
crops, and sounds like, staytuned.
Michael Walsh (12:04):
Yeah, you can't. Well, yeah, that's right, stay
tuned. But also stay tunedbecause there is a, not a new,
novel system that's beingdeveloped, which is what we call
as an active tool system. Andthat system is a electric motor
driven paddle, if you like that,when traveling through the when
(12:25):
traveling across the field, whena weed is detected, the paddle
dips into the soil where theweed is and essentially just
scoops the weed out. And so thatsystem has been specifically
designed for in crop use,specifically for row crops, at
this stage, 20 to 30 centimeterwide paddles on these tines, you
(12:48):
could potentially have two orthree tines per row, depending
on on the row width. It's a lowenergy system and quite finessed
in the level of soil disturbancethat occurs but still achieves
effective weed control, and theefficacy actually increases with
speed. So we're finding that aswe go from nine kilometers to
(13:10):
now up to 18 kilometers now thatthe efficacy improves, because
you get more of an actual impactas that paddle dips into the
soil.
Joe Ikley (13:20):
So so the faster speed is that meaning we're the
paddle will be in the ground fora little bit longer time. So is
it a paddle response of droppingand then raising back up, or is
it the speed of the paddlehitting the ground? I don't know
if that question makes enoughsense there.
Michael Walsh (13:38):
Yeah. No, that makes perfect sense. Joe, so it
is actually the speed of thepaddle hitting the ground. So if
you can imagine, well, it's abit like if you you hit
something just moving your armslowly, compared to if you hit
something moving your armquickly. There's a quite a can
be a potentially big differencein force, especially if you've
(13:59):
got big, strong, powerful arms,like you. Joan, so that's that's
essentially the same principlefor the weed. So with the paddle
hitting at higher speeds, is alot more impact force, and so a
lot more sheer pressure on that,on that weed, on the weed roots,
to excavate them out of thesoil.
Joe Ikley (14:15):
Next up, I was just thinking traveling faster for
weed control is music to theears of many American weed
control folks,
Michael Walsh (14:23):
and the same here in Australia too, which is, I
guess, part of the motivatingforce for looking at the
efficacy increase with speed isthat large production areas that
take time to travel over to foreffective weed control. And so
you gotta be able to kill weedsquickly and effectively.
Alyssa Essman (14:46):
So you mean, you mentioned a couple things there
that I think are exciting, oneof which is this reduced kind of
impact on the soil system inOhio, a lot of no till acres.
Right? And so this kind ofreduced tillage in a very
targeted manner, in a way that'sdifferent than our herbicides, I
(15:07):
think, is exciting in this sitespecific management. But one of
the other things is theefficacy. So could you talk a
little bit about the efficacy oftargeted tillage, like, what?
What's your kill rate? Arecertain species more or less
impacted, yeah.
Michael Walsh (15:21):
So the, if we talk about the the weed chipper,
so it has a the blade on theweed chipper, which I should
have described earlier. It's aflat blade with a little point
in the middle. So instead oflike a conventional cultivator
sweep, the blade is actuallyflat or across the width, so 30
centimeters or 40 centimeterswide, but it's just like a flat
(15:44):
hoe engaging with the soil atspeed, so it does potentially
cause quite a bit of soildisturbance. So it will be a 30
centimeter wide divot by maybe40 centimeters long, depending
on the depth of engagements andhow long you decide to engage
the soil for, and you can adjustit. You can adjust it for larger
(16:08):
weeds or reduce it for smallerweeds. But that reduction is
limited because it is such abig, aggressive implement, but
it is, it is suited for thatfallow situation where typically
you do get larger weeds, and youdo need that, that extra level
of soil disturbance to achievecontrol. And we have actually
(16:29):
got 100% control whenever we'vegot the tool engaging at the
right time. And the weed hasbeen, you know, sensed
appropriately and the system setup properly. The times when we
don't get 100% control, it'sbecause maybe the weed is right
on the edge of the blade and itgets a glancing blow, and even
(16:51):
though the weed might beaffected a little bit, it still
survives. So yeah, that's sortof the typical scenarios where
you do get some sort of survivalfor the the novel targeted
tillage system that we'redeveloping now, the the active
tool design system, which hasthe little active paddle, so
(17:14):
that's a 20 centimeter widepaddle or tool, and it is
developed for row croppingsystems, and probably targeting
smaller weeds, particularly ifyou have to go at slow speeds,
then it will be highly effectiveon small weeds, but maybe not so
effective on larger weeds athigher speeds, though, with that
(17:35):
increased impact force, therewill be particularly, probably
similar efficacy as the as aweed chipper, to a point, I
suppose it all, it all dependson the weed size. But I would
suggest that if you're trying toget larger weeds, and you need a
bigger tool to have a greaterchance of success, whereas the
(17:56):
the the active tool system wouldbe more reliable on medium sized
weeds. And so what I'm referringto, in terms of larger weeds,
are things that are about ameter in diameter. So they're
quite big, big plants with amaybe a two centimeter tap root
on them, something like that,which two centimeters is
probably nearly an inch indiameter, will be less Yeah. So
(18:20):
the weed chipper can handlethose without too many issues,
but the active tool system mightstruggle, but hopefully you're
not having those occurring inyour crop.
Joe Ikley (18:31):
We hope not either, but those questions always come
up for us, but so something yousaid there triggered a follow up
question for me. So for the weedchipper, in that more fallow
targeted system, you mentioned,some of these scapes might be on
the edge of the blade orsomething. So I'm I started
thinking, for many of the folksin the US, we think about the
(18:53):
different site specificsprayers, and there's the
question of, Do you have asection turn on with nozzles
meant to overlap, or even nozzlebanding, and pros and cons of
that. And so I was just thinkingwith the weed chipper itself,
the setup, are these blades setto overlap at all, or they kind
of 30 centimeters of width bumpit up right against another 30
(19:16):
centimeter with blade, so thatyou could have some of these
potential skips right on theedge of where those two blades
meet.
Michael Walsh (19:24):
Yeah. So you would, yeah. Ideally you would
set them up so that there wasoverlap. But it comes down to
cost, of course, and so the thearrangements will be the time
arrangement will be up to thegrowers, what they what they can
afford to do. But ideally, you'dexpect that you'd allow some
overlap to make sure that thereare no escapes because of near
(19:47):
misses on the edges. Yep,
Joe Ikley (19:49):
makes sense to me. Sorry, Alissa, I'm full of side
questions.
Alyssa Essman (19:54):
No, no, you're good. I think, I think that kind
of leads here into anotherquestion we have. Kind of
related to the sea and spray, Iknow right now it's based on
reflectance and differencebetween green and not green and
when it's triggered. But ifthere is the potential to have
this in crop, I think one of thequestions will be, how does it
(20:16):
compare to other in crop, sitespecific management tools like
the CN spray. So I guess do youhave any thoughts on that, or
how they might be used togetheror in tandem, or what that might
look like?
Michael Walsh (20:30):
Yeah, that's a good question. I guess we would
see these targeted tillageimplements used for site
specific weed control inconjunction with herbicides. So,
you know, they're meant to be analternative to take the
selection pressure off herbicideso you can actually come in and
(20:51):
clean up survivors that havepersisted through herbicide
treatments for whatever reason,whether it was a, you know,
ineffective application or dueto herbicide resistance. So
that's, that's where we see thethe true role of these systems
in terms of efficacy. Theyshould be similarly effective.
(21:14):
The, you know, steel is a prettyblunt implement when it comes to
using it for for weed control athigh speed. There's a lot less
environmental restrictions on ontargeted tillage as compared to
herbicide treatments, but thereare other restrictions. Of
course, there may be probablyslower operating speeds, maybe,
(21:39):
but you know, there's pros andcons for each system. There's no
such thing as the perfect weedcontrol tool,
Alyssa Essman (21:46):
so you kind of touched on it there. But what
role do you see targeted tillageand these sorts of alternative
or supplemental weed managementstrategies kind of playing in
the future of weed controlprograms?
Michael Walsh (21:59):
Yeah, well, I love to see them have a big
role, actually. So even though Iwork quite a lot in alternate
weed control technologies, I'vepreviously worked a lot with
herbicides, and herbicides arestill by far the best weed
control tool that we've got, andprobably likely will stay that
way. So we need to keep usingthem. We need to keep using them
(22:20):
by preserving their use andusing them when we really need
to use them, and using themeffectively when we really need
to use them, but we have tosupport their use with other
control techniques. We have touse other things to take the
pressure off herbicides, andthat's where targeted tillage
comes in. It we know a lot abouttillage as a weed control tool,
(22:43):
other more novel techniques wedon't know so much so, you know,
there's talk about lasers andelectrical weeding, and, yeah,
we're learning about those. Buttillage has been around for
centuries, and so in recenttimes, we may have forgotten a
little bit about how you usetillage effectively for weed
control, but that knowledge isstill there in the background,
(23:04):
and we it can be brought back tolife and used effectively in in
a more unique way than what ithas been used previously and
still fit with theirconservation production systems
that are very much focused onreducing the level of tillage in
the soil environment.
Joe Ikley (23:24):
And that was maybe a maybe there is no good answer
from from Weed Scienceperspective at this point, but
yeah, as I was thinking throughhow this might look in the US,
right? So we have someconservation tillage systems and
how the agencies in charge ofkind of classifying that would
(23:45):
look this. In my mind, it soundslike as long as you have minimal
weeds, and you're you're stillgoing to be under the threshold
for a certain percentage ofdisturbance. I know there's that
conversation has even begunAustralia for people adopting
these systems, or if it's stillkind of trying to work in how
the systems will work, and we'llfigure out definitions about
(24:08):
things like conservation tillagewithin the system later.
Michael Walsh (24:12):
Yeah, so the Australia has probably been
focused on no till andConservation Cropping for three
decades now. So we've got reallyhigh adoption rates. It's in the
90% of growers we callthemselves conservation
croppers. The challenge, thenumber one challenge to the that
(24:35):
Conservation Cropping and notillage has been weeds. And
whenever a weed problem hasgotten out of control, the first
thing growers turn to iscultivation, because they really
don't have an option and and Iguess I'm saying that in that
(24:56):
it's a you have to have a meansto an end, even though you've
got this. Context of veryconservative cropping and
minimal soil soil disturbance,at times, you have to break that
rule and and do something to geton top of your weed problem, to
get back to a more moreConservation Cropping program.
(25:19):
And so I guess what we'readvocating with the targeted
tillage is that before you getto that point of where the weeds
are just out of control, and youhave to resort to something
drastic, like a majorintervention, use alternatives
to try and target the weeds withan effective tillage based
system. That's some soildisturbance, but it's not field
(25:42):
wide. It's, you know, only twoto 3% of your entire field is is
actually disturbed, still fitswithin you, your Conservation
Cropping context, and stillallows you to persist with your
conservation focus in theproduction system.
Alyssa Essman (25:58):
That makes me think of another question here.
So sometimes in these no till orConservation Cropping Systems,
folks will also use things likecover crops. So in those
situations where maybe wehaven't planted and it is sort
of a fallow situation, but wehave a cover crop that's
(26:20):
terminated and maybe dying bythis brown would that interfere
with the ability to get in anduse a tool like this when you
have some level of residue inyour field?
Michael Walsh (26:34):
Yeah, well, potentially, depending on the
level of residue that you'vegot. So if, typically, we see
that if you got high levels ofresidue, you don't have that
many weeds, because the residueactually suppresses the weed
growth. If it's a particular ifit's a cereal residue, and it's
high levels of residue on thesoil surface, it can potentially
(26:58):
interfere with the weed chipper.But for non cereals, so legumes
or oil seed type residues andreduce or reduce cereal content,
that there's less of an issuefor restricting the action of
the weed chipper. But yeah, itwould cause some level of
(27:19):
interference, but not overallprevent weight control efficacy,
I guess, would be the point.
Joe Ikley (27:26):
Well, if I remember earlier, you said that some of
these folks can also kind offine tune the the hydraulic
pressure involved in it, somaybe you could kind of Jack the
pressure up if you're in a highresidue situation.
Michael Walsh (27:39):
Yeah, probably maybe a bit more pressure, but
maybe a bit more sharper cuttingblade to slice through residues.
To be honest, we haven't reallycome across really high residue
situations where we've needed touse it, either because there's
hardly any weeds or no weeds, orthat farmers just haven't been
(28:00):
able to reliably achieve reallyhigh levels of residues in their
fallow phases. It is a challengebeing able to get high levels of
residues from cover crops andfrom previous crop residues, to
get them to be retained on thesoil surface, particularly in
the areas where we're focusingon the fallow weed control,
(28:21):
which is northern New SouthWales, Southern Queensland,
summer dominant rainfall areas.They're the they're the areas
where they do they really needthe fallow weed control. And
yeah, the residues, they breakdown so quickly in that
environment, it's, it's hard tokeep that residue on the soil
surface for any period of time.
Alyssa Essman (28:43):
We touched on this a little bit. Sounds like
you have a lot in the works interms of next steps. But could
you walk us through some ofmaybe your short term and long
term research goals, looking attargeted tillage and how we can
use them?
Michael Walsh (28:59):
Yeah, sure. So the the Well, the short term
goal is to try and get the weedchipper commercialized. It's,
it's a commercialization is areal challenge. In Australia. We
have little or no machinerymanufacturing. Most of the
implements are imported. And wehave the only these small
engineering firms, orcomparatively small engineering
(29:21):
firms that produce someimplements, but they tend to be
risk averse, and so somethingnew, like a weed chipper, is is
a little bit maybe too No or hasbeen too novel for them, but
we're still hopeful. There'sdefinitely farmer demand. So
that's that's our goal for theshort term is to try and get
(29:42):
this to be commerciallyavailable so that there can be
some can get it into the handsof growers to use. The longer
term goals are really about therow cropping implements. So the
the active tool design system,it is quite a lot of novelty.
About it. It's, it's anelectrically powered system,
(30:04):
which is very novel foragriculture. At the moment, the
the industry is going electric.It's, it's, everybody's
forecasting that it will be anelectrified implement industry
in the not too distant future.So we're sort of catering or
directing our research towardsthat. So a little electric motor
(30:27):
that not only dips the paddlein, but actually controls the
speed of release of that paddlecoming out of the soil. So
there's a little engineering, alittle bit more engineering
development to go on with thatsystem, but the agronomic
development is really aboutproving its efficacy in row
crops such as cotton andsorghum, and then potentially
(30:50):
expanding its use into into moreconventional growing crops to
see if it has a role there.
Alyssa Essman (30:58):
Do you have any final thoughts on this, or Joe,
any any final questions that wewanted to ask? Michael, I'm
Joe Ikley (31:04):
going to the question side. My mind's just racing now
of how we're and a lot of our notill systems. We're doing these
fall residual applications,knowing that we'll have some
weeds in the spring, andthinking how this could
potentially be implemented, butwe still a paraquat as a big
hammer for that spring burndown. So we're, we're probably
(31:24):
not there yet, but I'm just, youknow, that's where my mind was
cycling. So no questions at thispoint. My long winded way of
saying that,
Alyssa Essman (31:33):
yeah, I'm not sure. I guess what this looks
like in your region. I know incertain parts of our state,
we're seeing an uptick in somenon GMO organic interests. And
so I see something like thispotentially filling a need in
some of those systems as well.
Joe Ikley (31:47):
Oh, the the the end crop, row crop option that's
Michael described, they're stillkind of working on. Would would
have high demand the tillagepart, or the tillage the the
fallow part, that'll be a selectfew people working in our
region. But I know if Sarah wason, she's got a different story
with or if I go west of Montana,there's, there's definitely some
(32:11):
no till fallow out there, so nottoo far from my region, from
being in high demand. But I'mthinking if thar growers in in
crop option for row crops wouldbe the cat's meow. I
Michael Walsh (32:26):
can definitely appreciate that we did. We did
spend quite a bit of timethinking about the US that,
because the US hasmanufacturing, right? We were
hopeful that we could get a someweed chippers into the US so
that we could prove theopportunity for a lesson to
fallow. But yeah, in exploringthat opportunity, we did, we did
(32:49):
see that. We did learn thatthere's limited opportunities
for fallow weed control. Theremay be some opportunities for
pre seeding weed control, butyeah, row cropping is probably
our next option for trying toget some sort of targeted
tillage action into in the USsystems,
Joe Ikley (33:07):
and something since I, I'd spend some time up in
Canada now where they don't haveparaquat, and we're, we're at a
inflection point with somekosher populations, where that
pre seed option could be veryBig for some of those no till
producers up there, where youdon't have many herbicide
options, that pre seed optionwill definitely be something to
(33:28):
consider.
Alyssa Essman (33:30):
So there's a lot to be excited about, I think,
for for where the future ofthis, this work, and its
potential implications for weedmanagement command to play, and
we
Joe Ikley (33:41):
understated it, so we will have the video linked in
the show notes. As someone wholikes equipment, watching this
video is it's just fascinatingto watch too. We're kind of
talking the science and how itworks behind of it, just
watching these little times dropand kill weeds. It's it
scratches a certain itch in mybrain.
Michael Walsh (34:00):
Well, it's just it's so gratifying to see a weed
get blasted out of the soil.It's a beautiful thing,
Alyssa Essman (34:10):
a lot more immediate gratification than
watching it die slowly, likeglyphosate.
Michael Walsh (34:14):
Yeah, exactly.
Alyssa Essman (34:17):
Yeah. So, Michael, if folks want more
information about this, isthere, is there a website or
somewhere you can point folks toread more about this, aside from
the video?
Michael Walsh (34:30):
Yeah, that's a good question. Melissa, I guess
there's no there's not aspecific website set up with
information. They could probablysearch targeted tillage on the
on the web and find someinformation there. There is a
journal paper that sort of talksabout how the system functions
(34:50):
and operates and its weedcontrol efficacy. But yeah,
there are. There's plenty ofinstances of the videos
available on the web of the. Ofthe way chipper and targeted
tillage.
Alyssa Essman (35:02):
Well, thank you for joining us today. Michael,
it was fun to chat about thistechnology and to the listeners.
We hope you'll tune in next weekto the war against weeds
podcast.
Thanks for tuning in. Just areminder, you can find this and
(35:23):
other podcasts and resources onthe crop protection network.
This network has a host ofinformation from extension
programs across the US about allthings pest management. We hope
to catch you next week on thewar against weeds Podcast.
Welcome back to the War Against Weeds podcast.
This is Alyssa Essman, WeedScience extension specialist for
Ohio State and today, my co hostis Joe Ikley, North Dakota State
University. How's it going todayJoe?
Joe Ikley (00:18):
Going pretty well. We're back above zero fahrenheit
for one of the few times thisFebruary as we're recording. So
no real complaints.
Alyssa Essman (00:28):
Awesome. Well, today we're joined by a co host,
actually across the world, soprobably a lot different weather
conditions where he's at. So Sotoday we have Michael Walsh. Do
you want to tell us a little bitabout where you're at and what
you do Michael?
Michael Walsh (00:44):
Yeah, sure. Hi. Alyssa, hi. Joe, yeah. So it's a
balmy 25 degrees Celsius here inWagga in New South Wales. So I'm
on the campus of Charles SturtUniversity where I'm a professor
of plant science andhorticulture, focusing on weed
control in cropping systems,grain production systems in
(01:06):
particular,
Alyssa Essman (01:07):
awesome. Well, thank you for joining us. We've
brought Michael on today to talkabout kind of a fun, interesting
topic. I know, one of thequestions Joe and I get are,
sometimes, how can we use, youknow, mechanical weed control,
along with our comprehensiveherbicide programs. And so we're
talking today all about targetedtillage. And so this is an area
(01:29):
where Michael has someexperience and can kind of shed
some light on some of theresearch and activities around
this targeted tillage. So beforewe get into some of that,
Michael, could you describe tous a little bit what is meant by
this term, targeted tillage.
Michael Walsh (01:44):
Yeah, sure. So targeted tillage is really
about, I guess we call it sitespecific weed control, but with
a spot tillage practice, if youlike. So you're concentrating a
tillage action around the weedtarget for a site specific weed
control output or outcome.
Alyssa Essman (02:04):
So in reading about some of this work, you
talk a little bit about theorigins, and I think that's kind
of a fun story. So could youtell us a little bit of the
background of this approach andhow you started studying
targeted tillage? Yeah,
Michael Walsh (02:19):
it is a fun story. It's a story that came
out of, well, harvest weed seedcontrol, actually. So harvest
weed seed control is a nonchemical weed control tactic
that we've been working on formany years, and through the peer
to peer learning process that wedeveloped in trying to get
farmers on board with harvestweed seed control, used to take
(02:40):
growers around to visit othergrower groups and talk about,
you know, their experiences withthis weed novel weed control
practice. So one one day, wewere visiting a farm, and the
one of the leading proponents ofharvest weed seed control was
walking ahead of us, talking tothe owner of the farm, and
(03:01):
they're walking across a fallowso in that part in where they
were, which was in southernQueensland, the fallow phase
occurs over summer, where it'sall about maintaining a
completely weed free area tostore moisture for the
subsequent winter crop. And asthey were walking along, the the
owner, the farmer, was walkingfrom weed to weed and just
(03:24):
kicking these weeds out with hiswith his boots. And the farmer
who was walking with him wasnoticing this, and when we
rejoined the group, he cameover, and he's all excited. He
said, Did you see that? Did yousee that this guy was just
kicking out the weeds with hisboots? How easy would that be to
come up with some sort ofmechanical tool that just kick
the weeds out? And that's howthe whole idea of targeted
(03:49):
tillage came about. We'relooking at just essentially
kicking out weeds in a low weeddensity situation, to just stop
these weeds from using moistureand nutrients and having
detrimental effects onsubsequent crop crop. So
Subsequently, we got a projectfunded by the Grains Research
(04:11):
and Development Corporation, andwe worked with some mechanical
engineers at the University ofWestern Australia, and we came
up with what the farmer referredto as a weed kicking device for
what we call now as targetedtillage, and we've actually
named it the weed chipper,right? So the weed chipper has
(04:32):
been developed as a targetedtillage implement, and the aim
for the use of that implement isto target low density weed
populations. You know, in afallow phase, it's quite
aggressive, but very effectiveon large weeds. And essentially,
what the scenario that you'relooking at is that you've got
(04:52):
weeds surviving the firstherbicide treatment of the
fallow. They're typically at lowdensities. And so you come. Back
in with this weed chipper, andyou take out the survivors, and
the effect is not only weedcontrol, but you're probably
also going to be removingherbicide resistant weeds that
are left surviving after initialherbicide treatment.
Joe Ikley (05:14):
That was going to be my follow up question, has this
so far been implemented mainlyafter an initial or maybe even a
second herbicide pass, so higherlikelihood of herbicide
resistant weeds being targeted,so you've kind of gotten rid of
the rest of the weeds and takingout the survivors with this
system.
Michael Walsh (05:33):
Yeah, that's right, Joe. So the because it is
a tillage implement, the aim isto, well, the use is for low
weed densities. And so wetypically refer to a weed
density of, say, one plant per10 square meters. Anything much
higher than that results in toomuch soil disturbance and
doesn't then fit with ourconservation agriculture
(05:56):
programs. So yeah, we aredefinitely looking at low weed
densities. Now that may be aninitial emergence is quite low,
but most commonly, it's afteryou had one or two broad
spectrum herbicides appliedacross the whole field. You're
taking out survivors, andpotentially any sort of late
emerges as well. So the timingof use in terms of achieving
(06:21):
effective weed control can be,it can be anytime, real, really,
because it's a tillage basedweed control, it's not really
limited by the weather, otherthan if it's actually raining or
straight after rain. So there'snot the same limitations with
this weed control activity, asit is with herbicides. So you
(06:43):
potentially when you're able touse it, you can use it 24/7,
around the clock, but yeah, thelimitations are if the soil is
wet. So tillage based weedcontrol works best when you've
got a drying soil environment.So you obviously rain and
immediately after rainfall isnot an ideal condition.
Joe Ikley (07:03):
And so maybe to back a little bit up here, just
thinking through this wholesystem, because it might be
foreign to many of ourlisteners. And I know Sarah is
not joining us today, but she'llprobably have some no till
fallow folks that they'relistening in. And this really
would be targeting the annualweeds within the system, because
we're not really going toprobably remove many perennials
(07:25):
or or have you tried that?Maybe?
Michael Walsh (07:28):
Um, yeah, we can. We can remove perennials so we
it's effective on return cotton.So that can be cotton plants
that have survived over into thenext season and are quite large
and difficult to control becauseit is a very aggressive tool.
It's quite a high impact whenthe implement engages with the
(07:51):
soil, and probably should havedescribed that action a little
bit more closely. Yeah. Sogetting back to your question,
Joe, it's typically in ourproduction systems, in our
annual production systems, wehave annual weeds. We don't tend
to have a lot of perennial weedspersisting from one year to the
next. So yeah, they are theprimary target. But yeah, as I
(08:13):
said, they can. This system canpotentially be used for on quite
large perennial weeds if needed.Yeah,
Joe Ikley (08:19):
we're it's always going to vary based on where,
what state you're in, for thoselistening from the States, but I
mean, I look at this as some ofour perennial weeds. We have
foxtail barley, it's a Hordeumspecies that is pretty shallow
rooted that will probably be agood fit. But we also have some
Canada thistle and some deeprooted perennials that may be a
(08:41):
little bit different.
Michael Walsh (08:42):
Yeah, sure that should have no problems with
those. I probably feel as thoughI should have described the time
action before this point too.
Joe Ikley (08:55):
I was going to ask that. And then also, I know
there's videos. So Michael, ifyou know of name of a search
term for the video. We canalways link it to show notes
too, because it's a prettyinteresting thing to watch. So
probably worth describing thataction, and we'll also link the
videos to it, yeah. So
Michael Walsh (09:11):
the the action of the target tillage implement is
based around what we refer to asthe response time. So it's a
typical cultivator time with ahydraulic breakout. So instead
of a spring breakout system, ithas a hydraulic cylinder that
acts as the breakout if the tinehas hits a rock or something
(09:33):
like that. That's in its normaloperation. When set up as as
targeted tillage, the system isadjusted with additional springs
that actually hold the time outof the soil. So the time travels
at about 10 centimeters abovethe soil surface, or maybe a
little bit higher, held in thatposition by these these springs.
(09:56):
The hydraulic tine is still, thehydraulic ram is pressurized.
And when a weed is detected,that RAM is triggered to push
that time quite rapidly into thesoil. So from standby to soil
engagement and then back to sandstandby, all happens within
(10:17):
point three of a second. So itis very fast, very rapid, and
has essentially been developedto achieve, if needed, a weed
control action every metertraveling at 12 kilometers per
hour. So it could actually be avery rapid tillage operation if
needed,
Alyssa Essman (10:38):
could you describe to us then how this
system knows when the weeds arethere. Like, how are we
detecting it to trigger this,this rapid response time system?
Yeah, so
Michael Walsh (10:52):
the detection system that we've got on the
weed chipper at the moment isessentially just a reflectance
based detector, so somethinglike a weeded or a weed seeker
system, because the weed chipperhas been developed and is being
used in fallow weed control. Soanything that's green, anything
growing in those situations, isconsidered a weed. So a fairly
(11:15):
simple sensor based detectionsystem is used. We are looking
at reconfiguring the timearrangement so we can
potentially use it for rowcrops. So we might want to use
it in sorghum or cotton or evencorn, I suppose, in the US, in
the early stages of growingseason. And in that scenario,
(11:38):
you would have potentially usemore sophisticated detection
systems, so maybe a camera basedweed recognition system that
would trigger the tines when aweed is detected.
Joe Ikley (11:51):
That was my follow up was, if you've gone that pathway
and sounds like you are, becausethat's the first follow up
question I know I'll get, is,can we use this inter row within
crops, and sounds like, staytuned.
Michael Walsh (12:04):
Yeah, you can't. Well, yeah, that's right, stay
tuned. But also stay tunedbecause there is a, not a new,
novel system that's beingdeveloped, which is what we call
as an active tool system. Andthat system is a electric motor
driven paddle, if you like that,when traveling through the when
(12:25):
traveling across the field, whena weed is detected, the paddle
dips into the soil where theweed is and essentially just
scoops the weed out. And so thatsystem has been specifically
designed for in crop use,specifically for row crops, at
this stage, 20 to 30 centimeterwide paddles on these tines, you
(12:48):
could potentially have two orthree tines per row, depending
on on the row width. It's a lowenergy system and quite finessed
in the level of soil disturbancethat occurs but still achieves
effective weed control, and theefficacy actually increases with
speed. So we're finding that aswe go from nine kilometers to
(13:10):
now up to 18 kilometers now thatthe efficacy improves, because
you get more of an actual impactas that paddle dips into the
soil.
Joe Ikley (13:20):
So so the faster speed is that meaning we're the
paddle will be in the ground fora little bit longer time. So is
it a paddle response of droppingand then raising back up, or is
it the speed of the paddlehitting the ground? I don't know
if that question makes enoughsense there.
Michael Walsh (13:38):
Yeah. No, that makes perfect sense. Joe, so it
is actually the speed of thepaddle hitting the ground. So if
you can imagine, well, it's abit like if you you hit
something just moving your armslowly, compared to if you hit
something moving your armquickly. There's a quite a can
be a potentially big differencein force, especially if you've
(13:59):
got big, strong, powerful arms,like you. Joan, so that's that's
essentially the same principlefor the weed. So with the paddle
hitting at higher speeds, is alot more impact force, and so a
lot more sheer pressure on that,on that weed, on the weed roots,
to excavate them out of thesoil.
Joe Ikley (14:15):
Next up, I was just thinking traveling faster for
weed control is music to theears of many American weed
control folks,
Michael Walsh (14:23):
and the same here in Australia too, which is, I
guess, part of the motivatingforce for looking at the
efficacy increase with speed isthat large production areas that
take time to travel over to foreffective weed control. And so
you gotta be able to kill weedsquickly and effectively.
Alyssa Essman (14:46):
So you mean, you mentioned a couple things there
that I think are exciting, oneof which is this reduced kind of
impact on the soil system inOhio, a lot of no till acres.
Right? And so this kind ofreduced tillage in a very
targeted manner, in a way that'sdifferent than our herbicides, I
(15:07):
think, is exciting in this sitespecific management. But one of
the other things is theefficacy. So could you talk a
little bit about the efficacy oftargeted tillage, like, what?
What's your kill rate? Arecertain species more or less
impacted, yeah.
Michael Walsh (15:21):
So the, if we talk about the the weed chipper,
so it has a the blade on theweed chipper, which I should
have described earlier. It's aflat blade with a little point
in the middle. So instead oflike a conventional cultivator
sweep, the blade is actuallyflat or across the width, so 30
centimeters or 40 centimeterswide, but it's just like a flat
(15:44):
hoe engaging with the soil atspeed, so it does potentially
cause quite a bit of soildisturbance. So it will be a 30
centimeter wide divot by maybe40 centimeters long, depending
on the depth of engagements andhow long you decide to engage
the soil for, and you can adjustit. You can adjust it for larger
(16:08):
weeds or reduce it for smallerweeds. But that reduction is
limited because it is such abig, aggressive implement, but
it is, it is suited for thatfallow situation where typically
you do get larger weeds, and youdo need that, that extra level
of soil disturbance to achievecontrol. And we have actually
(16:29):
got 100% control whenever we'vegot the tool engaging at the
right time. And the weed hasbeen, you know, sensed
appropriately and the system setup properly. The times when we
don't get 100% control, it'sbecause maybe the weed is right
on the edge of the blade and itgets a glancing blow, and even
(16:51):
though the weed might beaffected a little bit, it still
survives. So yeah, that's sortof the typical scenarios where
you do get some sort of survivalfor the the novel targeted
tillage system that we'redeveloping now, the the active
tool design system, which hasthe little active paddle, so
(17:14):
that's a 20 centimeter widepaddle or tool, and it is
developed for row croppingsystems, and probably targeting
smaller weeds, particularly ifyou have to go at slow speeds,
then it will be highly effectiveon small weeds, but maybe not so
effective on larger weeds athigher speeds, though, with that
(17:35):
increased impact force, therewill be particularly, probably
similar efficacy as the as aweed chipper, to a point, I
suppose it all, it all dependson the weed size. But I would
suggest that if you're trying toget larger weeds, and you need a
bigger tool to have a greaterchance of success, whereas the
(17:56):
the the active tool system wouldbe more reliable on medium sized
weeds. And so what I'm referringto, in terms of larger weeds,
are things that are about ameter in diameter. So they're
quite big, big plants with amaybe a two centimeter tap root
on them, something like that,which two centimeters is
probably nearly an inch indiameter, will be less Yeah. So
(18:20):
the weed chipper can handlethose without too many issues,
but the active tool system mightstruggle, but hopefully you're
not having those occurring inyour crop.
Joe Ikley (18:31):
We hope not either, but those questions always come
up for us, but so something yousaid there triggered a follow up
question for me. So for the weedchipper, in that more fallow
targeted system, you mentioned,some of these scapes might be on
the edge of the blade orsomething. So I'm I started
thinking, for many of the folksin the US, we think about the
(18:53):
different site specificsprayers, and there's the
question of, Do you have asection turn on with nozzles
meant to overlap, or even nozzlebanding, and pros and cons of
that. And so I was just thinkingwith the weed chipper itself,
the setup, are these blades setto overlap at all, or they kind
of 30 centimeters of width bumpit up right against another 30
(19:16):
centimeter with blade, so thatyou could have some of these
potential skips right on theedge of where those two blades
meet.
Michael Walsh (19:24):
Yeah. So you would, yeah. Ideally you would
set them up so that there wasoverlap. But it comes down to
cost, of course, and so the thearrangements will be the time
arrangement will be up to thegrowers, what they what they can
afford to do. But ideally, you'dexpect that you'd allow some
overlap to make sure that thereare no escapes because of near
(19:47):
misses on the edges. Yep,
Joe Ikley (19:49):
makes sense to me. Sorry, Alissa, I'm full of side
questions.
Alyssa Essman (19:54):
No, no, you're good. I think, I think that kind
of leads here into anotherquestion we have. Kind of
related to the sea and spray, Iknow right now it's based on
reflectance and differencebetween green and not green and
when it's triggered. But ifthere is the potential to have
this in crop, I think one of thequestions will be, how does it
(20:16):
compare to other in crop, sitespecific management tools like
the CN spray. So I guess do youhave any thoughts on that, or
how they might be used togetheror in tandem, or what that might
look like?
Michael Walsh (20:30):
Yeah, that's a good question. I guess we would
see these targeted tillageimplements used for site
specific weed control inconjunction with herbicides. So,
you know, they're meant to be analternative to take the
selection pressure off herbicideso you can actually come in and
(20:51):
clean up survivors that havepersisted through herbicide
treatments for whatever reason,whether it was a, you know,
ineffective application or dueto herbicide resistance. So
that's, that's where we see thethe true role of these systems
in terms of efficacy. Theyshould be similarly effective.
(21:14):
The, you know, steel is a prettyblunt implement when it comes to
using it for for weed control athigh speed. There's a lot less
environmental restrictions on ontargeted tillage as compared to
herbicide treatments, but thereare other restrictions. Of
course, there may be probablyslower operating speeds, maybe,
(21:39):
but you know, there's pros andcons for each system. There's no
such thing as the perfect weedcontrol tool,
Alyssa Essman (21:46):
so you kind of touched on it there. But what
role do you see targeted tillageand these sorts of alternative
or supplemental weed managementstrategies kind of playing in
the future of weed controlprograms?
Michael Walsh (21:59):
Yeah, well, I love to see them have a big
role, actually. So even though Iwork quite a lot in alternate
weed control technologies, I'vepreviously worked a lot with
herbicides, and herbicides arestill by far the best weed
control tool that we've got, andprobably likely will stay that
way. So we need to keep usingthem. We need to keep using them
(22:20):
by preserving their use andusing them when we really need
to use them, and using themeffectively when we really need
to use them, but we have tosupport their use with other
control techniques. We have touse other things to take the
pressure off herbicides, andthat's where targeted tillage
comes in. It we know a lot abouttillage as a weed control tool,
(22:43):
other more novel techniques wedon't know so much so, you know,
there's talk about lasers andelectrical weeding, and, yeah,
we're learning about those. Buttillage has been around for
centuries, and so in recenttimes, we may have forgotten a
little bit about how you usetillage effectively for weed
control, but that knowledge isstill there in the background,
(23:04):
and we it can be brought back tolife and used effectively in in
a more unique way than what ithas been used previously and
still fit with theirconservation production systems
that are very much focused onreducing the level of tillage in
the soil environment.
Joe Ikley (23:24):
And that was maybe a maybe there is no good answer
from from Weed Scienceperspective at this point, but
yeah, as I was thinking throughhow this might look in the US,
right? So we have someconservation tillage systems and
how the agencies in charge ofkind of classifying that would
(23:45):
look this. In my mind, it soundslike as long as you have minimal
weeds, and you're you're stillgoing to be under the threshold
for a certain percentage ofdisturbance. I know there's that
conversation has even begunAustralia for people adopting
these systems, or if it's stillkind of trying to work in how
the systems will work, and we'llfigure out definitions about
(24:08):
things like conservation tillagewithin the system later.
Michael Walsh (24:12):
Yeah, so the Australia has probably been
focused on no till andConservation Cropping for three
decades now. So we've got reallyhigh adoption rates. It's in the
90% of growers we callthemselves conservation
croppers. The challenge, thenumber one challenge to the that
(24:35):
Conservation Cropping and notillage has been weeds. And
whenever a weed problem hasgotten out of control, the first
thing growers turn to iscultivation, because they really
don't have an option and and Iguess I'm saying that in that
(24:56):
it's a you have to have a meansto an end, even though you've
got this. Context of veryconservative cropping and
minimal soil soil disturbance,at times, you have to break that
rule and and do something to geton top of your weed problem, to
get back to a more moreConservation Cropping program.
(25:19):
And so I guess what we'readvocating with the targeted
tillage is that before you getto that point of where the weeds
are just out of control, and youhave to resort to something
drastic, like a majorintervention, use alternatives
to try and target the weeds withan effective tillage based
system. That's some soildisturbance, but it's not field
(25:42):
wide. It's, you know, only twoto 3% of your entire field is is
actually disturbed, still fitswithin you, your Conservation
Cropping context, and stillallows you to persist with your
conservation focus in theproduction system.
Alyssa Essman (25:58):
That makes me think of another question here.
So sometimes in these no till orConservation Cropping Systems,
folks will also use things likecover crops. So in those
situations where maybe wehaven't planted and it is sort
of a fallow situation, but wehave a cover crop that's
(26:20):
terminated and maybe dying bythis brown would that interfere
with the ability to get in anduse a tool like this when you
have some level of residue inyour field?
Michael Walsh (26:34):
Yeah, well, potentially, depending on the
level of residue that you'vegot. So if, typically, we see
that if you got high levels ofresidue, you don't have that
many weeds, because the residueactually suppresses the weed
growth. If it's a particular ifit's a cereal residue, and it's
high levels of residue on thesoil surface, it can potentially
(26:58):
interfere with the weed chipper.But for non cereals, so legumes
or oil seed type residues andreduce or reduce cereal content,
that there's less of an issuefor restricting the action of
the weed chipper. But yeah, itwould cause some level of
(27:19):
interference, but not overallprevent weight control efficacy,
I guess, would be the point.
Joe Ikley (27:26):
Well, if I remember earlier, you said that some of
these folks can also kind offine tune the the hydraulic
pressure involved in it, somaybe you could kind of Jack the
pressure up if you're in a highresidue situation.
Michael Walsh (27:39):
Yeah, probably maybe a bit more pressure, but
maybe a bit more sharper cuttingblade to slice through residues.
To be honest, we haven't reallycome across really high residue
situations where we've needed touse it, either because there's
hardly any weeds or no weeds, orthat farmers just haven't been
(28:00):
able to reliably achieve reallyhigh levels of residues in their
fallow phases. It is a challengebeing able to get high levels of
residues from cover crops andfrom previous crop residues, to
get them to be retained on thesoil surface, particularly in
the areas where we're focusingon the fallow weed control,
(28:21):
which is northern New SouthWales, Southern Queensland,
summer dominant rainfall areas.They're the they're the areas
where they do they really needthe fallow weed control. And
yeah, the residues, they breakdown so quickly in that
environment, it's, it's hard tokeep that residue on the soil
surface for any period of time.
Alyssa Essman (28:43):
We touched on this a little bit. Sounds like
you have a lot in the works interms of next steps. But could
you walk us through some ofmaybe your short term and long
term research goals, looking attargeted tillage and how we can
use them?
Michael Walsh (28:59):
Yeah, sure. So the the Well, the short term
goal is to try and get the weedchipper commercialized. It's,
it's a commercialization is areal challenge. In Australia. We
have little or no machinerymanufacturing. Most of the
implements are imported. And wehave the only these small
engineering firms, orcomparatively small engineering
(29:21):
firms that produce someimplements, but they tend to be
risk averse, and so somethingnew, like a weed chipper, is is
a little bit maybe too No or hasbeen too novel for them, but
we're still hopeful. There'sdefinitely farmer demand. So
that's that's our goal for theshort term is to try and get
(29:42):
this to be commerciallyavailable so that there can be
some can get it into the handsof growers to use. The longer
term goals are really about therow cropping implements. So the
the active tool design system,it is quite a lot of novelty.
About it. It's, it's anelectrically powered system,
(30:04):
which is very novel foragriculture. At the moment, the
the industry is going electric.It's, it's, everybody's
forecasting that it will be anelectrified implement industry
in the not too distant future.So we're sort of catering or
directing our research towardsthat. So a little electric motor
(30:27):
that not only dips the paddlein, but actually controls the
speed of release of that paddlecoming out of the soil. So
there's a little engineering, alittle bit more engineering
development to go on with thatsystem, but the agronomic
development is really aboutproving its efficacy in row
crops such as cotton andsorghum, and then potentially
(30:50):
expanding its use into into moreconventional growing crops to
see if it has a role there.
Alyssa Essman (30:58):
Do you have any final thoughts on this, or Joe,
any any final questions that wewanted to ask? Michael, I'm
Joe Ikley (31:04):
going to the question side. My mind's just racing now
of how we're and a lot of our notill systems. We're doing these
fall residual applications,knowing that we'll have some
weeds in the spring, andthinking how this could
potentially be implemented, butwe still a paraquat as a big
hammer for that spring burndown. So we're, we're probably
(31:24):
not there yet, but I'm just, youknow, that's where my mind was
cycling. So no questions at thispoint. My long winded way of
saying that,
Alyssa Essman (31:33):
yeah, I'm not sure. I guess what this looks
like in your region. I know incertain parts of our state,
we're seeing an uptick in somenon GMO organic interests. And
so I see something like thispotentially filling a need in
some of those systems as well.
Joe Ikley (31:47):
Oh, the the the end crop, row crop option that's
Michael described, they're stillkind of working on. Would would
have high demand the tillagepart, or the tillage the the
fallow part, that'll be a selectfew people working in our
region. But I know if Sarah wason, she's got a different story
with or if I go west of Montana,there's, there's definitely some
(32:11):
no till fallow out there, so nottoo far from my region, from
being in high demand. But I'mthinking if thar growers in in
crop option for row crops wouldbe the cat's meow. I
Michael Walsh (32:26):
can definitely appreciate that we did. We did
spend quite a bit of timethinking about the US that,
because the US hasmanufacturing, right? We were
hopeful that we could get a someweed chippers into the US so
that we could prove theopportunity for a lesson to
fallow. But yeah, in exploringthat opportunity, we did, we did
(32:49):
see that. We did learn thatthere's limited opportunities
for fallow weed control. Theremay be some opportunities for
pre seeding weed control, butyeah, row cropping is probably
our next option for trying toget some sort of targeted
tillage action into in the USsystems,
Joe Ikley (33:07):
and something since I, I'd spend some time up in
Canada now where they don't haveparaquat, and we're, we're at a
inflection point with somekosher populations, where that
pre seed option could be veryBig for some of those no till
producers up there, where youdon't have many herbicide
options, that pre seed optionwill definitely be something to
(33:28):
consider.
Alyssa Essman (33:30):
So there's a lot to be excited about, I think,
for for where the future ofthis, this work, and its
potential implications for weedmanagement command to play, and
we
Joe Ikley (33:41):
understated it, so we will have the video linked in
the show notes. As someone wholikes equipment, watching this
video is it's just fascinatingto watch too. We're kind of
talking the science and how itworks behind of it, just
watching these little times dropand kill weeds. It's it
scratches a certain itch in mybrain.
Michael Walsh (34:00):
Well, it's just it's so gratifying to see a weed
get blasted out of the soil.It's a beautiful thing,
Alyssa Essman (34:10):
a lot more immediate gratification than
watching it die slowly, likeglyphosate.
Michael Walsh (34:14):
Yeah, exactly.
Alyssa Essman (34:17):
Yeah. So, Michael, if folks want more
information about this, isthere, is there a website or
somewhere you can point folks toread more about this, aside from
the video?
Michael Walsh (34:30):
Yeah, that's a good question. Melissa, I guess
there's no there's not aspecific website set up with
information. They could probablysearch targeted tillage on the
on the web and find someinformation there. There is a
journal paper that sort of talksabout how the system functions
(34:50):
and operates and its weedcontrol efficacy. But yeah,
there are. There's plenty ofinstances of the videos
available on the web of the. Ofthe way chipper and targeted
tillage.
Alyssa Essman (35:02):
Well, thank you for joining us today. Michael,
it was fun to chat about thistechnology and to the listeners.
We hope you'll tune in next weekto the war against weeds
podcast.
Thanks for tuning in. Just areminder, you can find this and
(35:23):
other podcasts and resources onthe crop protection network.
This network has a host ofinformation from extension
programs across the US about allthings pest management. We hope
to catch you next week on thewar against weeds Podcast.
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