Planning for Prosperity: Mature fleabane control with Angus Butterfield

Controlling mature fleabane is tricky. With funding from the Hugh Williamson Foundation and the Australian Government's Future Drought Fund BCG’s Research Agronomist Angus Butterfield completed a research project on controlling mature fleabane. 

The information shared is based on research conducted for the purpose of exploring flea bank control options and should not be considered direct advice.  Please note, some herbicide rates and applications discussed may not align with registered labour requirements or maximum residue limits. We strongly encourage you to consult your agronomist or local advisor before implementing any of the strategies covered here. They can provide guidance tailored to your conditions, ensure compliance with current labour requirements and help you adhere to MRL guidelines. 

The conversation covers the two different double-knock trials Angus undertook to ascertain the most effective mature fleabane control options. In the first trial the first pass was altered with a standard second pass knock. In the second trial, the second pass was altered with a standard first pass knock. In the second trial many of the rates were camera sprayer rates.  

This podcast is sponsored by Action Steel. Visit https://www.actionsteel.com.au/ today 

For more information on chemical storage visit: https://www.actionsteel.com.au/downloads/standard-chemical-sheds-brochure-size-price-guide/  

About Angus Butterfield 

Angus Butterfield joined BCG in March 2022 as a Research Agronomist. He holds a Bachelor of Agriculture and Technology majoring in Agronomy from Latrobe University and has relocated to BCG from the outskirts of Melbourne. Angus has a passion for high quality research and is keen to improve agricultural practices and production as well contributing the BCG’s large scope of research to benefit growers.  

Find Janine on LinkedIn 

https://www.linkedin.com/in/janine-batters-a5083b166/  

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To learn more about BCG visit www.bcg.org.au or linktr.ee/bcg_birchip  

In the spirit of reconciliation, BCG acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea, and community. We pay our respect to their Elders past and present. 

 

Disclaimer: 

The Birchip Cropping Group Inc. (“BCG”) makes no warranties regarding merchantability, fitness for purpose or otherwise with respect to this podcast. Any person relying on this report does so entirely at their own risk. BCG and all persons associated with it exclude all liability (including liability for negligence) in relation to any opinion, advice or information contained in this podcast and any consequences

Episode Transcript

S1 (00:00):
Controlling mature fleabane is tricky. With funding from the Hugh
Williamson Foundation and the Australian Government's Future Drought Fund. BCG
research agronomist Angus Butterfield completed a research project on controlling
mature fleabane, which is up next. The information shared is
based on research conducted for the purpose of exploring fleabane
control options, and should not be considered direct advice. Please

(00:22):
note some herbicide rates and applications discussed may not align
with registered label requirements or maximum residue limits. We strongly
encourage you to consult your agronomist or local adviser before
implementing any of the strategies covered here. They can provide
guidance tailored to your conditions, ensure compliance with current label requirements,
and help you adhere to MRL guidelines. This podcast is

(00:46):
sponsored by Action Steel. Today, I'm speaking with BCG research
agronomist Angus Butterfield about his research into summer fleabane control,
specifically when it's mature. So not when it's at the
rosette stage, but when it's elongated and it's mature because
that's when people often have the trouble. So welcome, Angus. Thanks, Janine.

(01:10):
Just for a start, can you give a little bit
of a background on you and then why you are
so interested in researching fleabane?

S2 (01:17):
I'm originally from the outskirts of Melbourne, just out of
a town called Hurstbridge. Third year at the Birch Cropping
Group as a research agronomist. And the reason that I'm
interested in this stuff is because it has been such
a big issue for a lot of our growers. There's
been growers contacting us asking what is the solution for
this sort of issue, especially with a few of our

(01:38):
wet summers we've had recently. It's become an issue as
it's so hard to kill with some of our knockdown herbicides.

S1 (01:44):
And where are most of those growers from? Angus.

S2 (01:46):
So most of those growers at the minute are in
the mallee sort of region. So anywhere from all the
way up past sort of Balranald, all the way down
to Birchip, but we are seeing it start to spread
more and more into the Wimmera as well as the
North Central.

S1 (01:58):
And why are we seeing that?

S2 (02:00):
It's been around for a little while, more of a
Queensland New South Wales weed, Wade. But a lot of
guys I've been talking to have said after the floods
we had about ten years ago, it's come in. And
just due to how many wet summers we've had recently,
it's become more and more of an issue. Obviously, if
we're going to dry summer, we're not going to see
those weeds germinate over that time. So do you.

S1 (02:19):
Think that the flood water helped disperse the seeds.

S2 (02:22):
As it wasn't really around at the time? That's just
what I've heard. But yes, I would have thought so.
It's a windblown and I guess it can be spread
by water as well. One of the biggest issues that
they can spread from roadsides and fence lines.

S1 (02:33):
Okay. So can you tell me a little bit about
fleabane and why it is so hard to control?

S2 (02:37):
Yeah. So it's it's a broadleaf weed. So it emerges
sort of in that 10 to 30 degrees conditions. So
we often see it emerge in springtime once it gets
a bit of size about it. Its plant structure and
phenology makes it really difficult to kill. It's quite tolerant
to glyphosate, so your standard glyphosate spray won't really get

(02:58):
into it. And the reason that is because it's got
a low stomata count. It's got quite a waxy plant tissue.
It's got hairy leaves and they're quite small. So it's
got all these sort of characteristics that sort of make
it hard for our herbicides to translocate into. So it's
a surface germinating weed so often. Once upon a time
in our till systems, we could control it just because

(03:20):
once it gets buried, it's quite hard to germinate. Germinates
in our 1 to 2cm in depth. And also something
makes it so hard is that you might only see
1 or 2 weeds in your paddock because it produces
about 100,000 weed seeds per plant. You can see that
is a fair few and one where it can. Obviously,

(03:41):
it can turn into a blowout in a number of
years like quickly.

S1 (03:43):
So why do you think it's important to research fleabane
control at this stage when it's mature?

S2 (03:50):
So we often see fleabane germinate in the springtime. So
that's often under a crop. So it's quite easy to
kill at those smaller growth stages. But we often don't
get the chance to target them over those stages. So
like for our lentils, the only sort of options we've
got is until the end of harvest, which is desiccating.
And if they've been sitting in the ground for two months,

(04:11):
they've put a bit of a taproot in and they'll
elongate pretty much as soon as it warms up so
often hard to target them at those stages. Also, there's
some residual control that you can do. But again, just
due to our love of lentils at the minute and
our pulses, it's really hard to use any of those
residual herbicides just due to plant back issues that we
see with them now.

S1 (04:32):
Can you tell me about your research project?

S2 (04:34):
Yeah. So we're looking at during summer because obviously it
does emerge quite early and we have actually seen it.
I've seen two months ago at emerging in some crops.
And if you've got something like lentils in or any
sort of pulses apart from maybe chickpeas, there's no residual control.
You can't spray it on top of it. You've sort
of got to wait until you're desiccation stage. Same with

(04:55):
your wheat. There's like there is some options, but then
you're in terms of residual control, but then you're restricted
to your rotation. And there's not much flexibility there.

S1 (05:03):
Right. So your research project is about fleabane control in
that summer wheat period after harvest but before you put
your next crop in.

S2 (05:12):
Yes. Over that summer fallow period.

S1 (05:14):
Okay. So what did you find?

S2 (05:15):
So our research was a number of trials, but looking
at that elongated fleabane. So when they mature a bit
more natural tolerance to glyphosate and difficult to kill. We
looked at a few different trials. First we looked at
our first pass in the double knock situation. So we
looked at a bunch of Group four herbicides mixed with
glyphosate with a standard paraquat terrador double knock. And then

(05:38):
we looked at another trial with pretty standard sort of
first passes with a range of different double knock options,
usually a mixer with paraquat. Okay.

S1 (05:48):
So generally speaking, most people would control this. Not in
one pass. They would do the double knock.

S2 (05:54):
As far as I can see, I don't think there's
any sort of chemistry that we can use that will
get it done in one go. Out of all the
research I've seen and we've done, just a single pass
is just not effective. Okay.

S1 (06:06):
So what did you find?

S2 (06:07):
Um, so we found a few interesting things. We found
that a lot of our group four herbicides that are
commonly used in the summer. Fallow didn't actually give us
much more control than glyphosate, so starring dicamba and 240 ester,
we naturally see. And these are all rates that are
that were recommended by agronomists. We didn't actually see any

(06:28):
differences between using those chemistries with glyphosate and using glyphosate alone.
So what are the symptoms we saw were the burn
off symptoms from our paraquat. So it's suggesting that we
maybe those chemistries aren't quite getting into the plant. And
then we saw also two at 240 amine was better
than our ester. So we looked at about 85% control.

(06:51):
So it did improve control. But we're like like I
said before 85%. You're getting 15% through. So we saw
the symptoms from those treatments were more of the contact
herbicides that we'd put on the seven days after. So
we're saying that paraquat and our territorial spray in these
trials were doing most of the work. Those treatments were

(07:13):
pretty much similar to glyphosate. Still getting a fair big
seed set there for the next season, but the standout
in this trial was really another product. I mixed with glyphosate,
which was drop zone.

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S2 (07:57):
So it's a 240 amine product so similar to a amine.
But it has some some sort of surfactant package that
makes it translocated into the plant better, which we saw.
So it actually was 98% control. I think from seeing
those results, it might suggest that our biggest issue is
actually getting the herbicide into the plant. So the translocation.

(08:18):
So all of these herbicides like 24D amine can kill it.
It's just getting it in which is what we've seen. Wow.

S1 (08:25):
So that's a group for again.

S2 (08:26):
Yeah. Yeah. So all these chemistries in our first pass
trial were all Group four chemistries. Okay.

S1 (08:33):
So that was the first pass. So you found that
the first pass the best was glyphosate with drop zone.
That was the best. And then the second best was.

S2 (08:41):
So our sort of two 4D amines as well. So
out of our three different two 4D products you've got
drop zone with their best control. And then we've got
amine at our middle sort of and then our ester
at the end, which was surprising because especially because ester
has that bit of kick that most people. And yeah,
it is a pretty standard sort of product that a
lot of people would use.

S1 (09:01):
So you said that trial that you were talking about, Angus,
that was with the first pass being those specific differences.
And then what was the second pass?

S2 (09:10):
The second pass for all those treatments I just talked
about was, um, two liters of paraquat and 20g of terrador.

S1 (09:16):
Okay, so onto the second trial. Angus, can you talk
to me about that?

S2 (09:20):
Yep. So the second trial that we did looked at
again in a double knock situation, instead of looking at
the first spray that we do in that we looked
at the second spray. So the one that's done ten
days after the initial spray. So our first pass sprays
were pretty standard at a glyphosate with a common mixer.
But we looked at a range of different mixes, usually
with paraquat in this trial.

S1 (09:42):
What were some of those mixes?

S2 (09:43):
So there was from this trial, there was a few
interesting things from the second pass trial. So we looked
at a range of different group 14 herbicides. So Terrador
Rackstraw as well. We also looked at some camera sprayer rates.
So we bumped up rates to four liters as well.
So some of our better ones that we saw in
the second pass trial were some of the camera sprayer rates.

(10:06):
So higher rates of paraquat we fight with the higher
rates that you're able to put through a camera sprayer.
We got better control. So we saw that our best
control was with a very expensive brew. It had four
rows of paraquat, foreign mils of amatol and 40g of toradol,
which is very high, but we only saw 93% control.

(10:28):
So we're looking at a quite an expensive spray versus
what we what we talked about before with the drop
zone is that it's probably about half the cost. Another
interesting thing, we had a bit of a curveball treatment
in here, and it was aiming for 52l, as well
as star rain at 500 mils just with a paraquat. Terrible.
And we got 90% control. And that actually was the

(10:49):
second best performer. So we're saying that there is a
lot of different options and they can get quite expensive
in the second pass. But by what I've seen, your
first pass is the most critical stage. So you sort
of want to put your money in your first pass
and just run the standard second pass. So we're seeing
that glyphosate is not really working at all with our fleabane,
because there's two group fours mixed together with just a

(11:10):
standard double knock. We're getting very good control. We also
saw that Pteridophytes are like it's a massive thing now
in our summer spraying. It's a great bit of chemistry,
but in terms of fleabane, we didn't see any differences
between using that and with and without with paraquat either.

S1 (11:27):
So the drop zone in the first pass was how effective?

S2 (11:32):
98%.

S1 (11:34):
And then in the second pass trial, what was the
most effective?

S2 (11:38):
93%.

S1 (11:39):
But that was with the really expensive brew.

S2 (11:41):
Yeah. And that was through a camera spray as well.

S1 (11:43):
So do you have any data, Angus, on how much
fleabane takes out of the soil?

S2 (11:48):
I haven't got any data on it necessarily, but yes,
it's got a taproot. So evaporation will happen in your
top 20 to 30cm, so you'll lose it anyway. But
your stored water is underneath that. And it does have
a taproot and can tap into that. So that's with
any of our summer weed stuff. And because it's so hot,
it matures so quickly and can suck that water out quickly,

(12:10):
you can just see even this year, different sort of
summer spraying approaches, um, can make the difference between having
a crop and not having a crop in a year
like this, just because it's been a heavy reliance on
that subsoil moisture.

S1 (12:21):
So what would your advice be, Angus to farmers that
are dealing with. Or they're seeing fleabane popping up now
in their paddocks.

S2 (12:29):
Oh, the first thing you'd have to do would be
monitor it as close as you can, make sure you
know it's there. So if you've got any opportunities to
control it when it's small, do that. That's your best
bet is controlling it when it's at that immature stage
like most don't get the opportunity to do that and
you have to come back, come up with a strategy.
If there's any sort of options, you can do lentils.
If you've got some issues in that desiccating would be

(12:50):
definitely the way to go. And even a double knock
desiccation in cereals. Depending on what your rotation is like,
there is a bit of residual control options, but it's
probably a bit late in the season now. Um, but yeah,
just monitor it and get on as quick as you
can because as soon as they start getting a bit
in size, they are very hard to kill. Even with
those herbicides that I talked about, you still want to
get them early and can be saving some dollars there

(13:11):
as well. You've just got to stay on top of
it because as I said before, it's a windblown weed.
So regardless if you control your paddocks, if it's on
a fence line or if it's in a neighbour's paddock
or it's on a roadside, it can still blow over
into your paddock as well. So it's just constantly being
on top, like a lot of our summer words. Just
making sure you can just stop that set, that seed

(13:32):
set as much as you can. Like any way, depleting
the seed bank is your most important thing because all
of these can stay around your soil for years, and
the chemistry you use in the first pass seem to
be more important in controlling it, rather than trying to
make up for it in the second pass. So spend
your money in your first pass rather than your second pass.
Based off the research we did over the summer, that

(13:52):
would be my recommendation.

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S3 (14:04):
BCG drives the prosperity of Australian farmers, communities and landscapes
through applied research, innovation and events. To find out more
about what we're up to, our team and events near you,
visit BCG. Forego. BCG acknowledges the traditional custodians of country
throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community.

(14:24):
We pay our respects to their elders, past and present.