A new herbicide is available for controlling weeds prior to planting corn. The product, called Autumn, is meant to control fall and early spring weeds.
Burdown applications of Autumn can help control pests, including black cutworms, and trial studies show the herbicide is effective against a variety of tough weeds. Autumn can be applied for burdown application after harvest or 30 days before spring corn planting.
Purdue University weed science professor Bill Johnson says the product works well on cress leaf groundsel, chickweed, henbit and purple deadnettle. "We have found that Autumn is a really good fit for winter annuals and dandelion in the Eastern Corn Belt," he says.
Kevin Bradley, a weed scientist at University of Missouri-Columbia, says the product works farther west, too. "We observed good control of henbit and common chickweed with fall applications of Autumn," he says.