Managing weeds has always been a hot button issue for cover crop growers, especially for herbicide-resistant weed species. Lots of new precision technology has been released in the past few years in an attempt to make this issue easier for growers. 

Jon Jackson, CEO of Global Neighbor Inc. (GNI), says directed energy (DE) light waves have a bright future in the fight against herbicide-resistant weed species. His company created the Weed Seed Destroyer, a combine add-on that treats weed seeds at harvest, rendering them unable to germinate after they leave the machine.

The Weed Seed Destroyer uses a mild-warming infra-red treatment and then an intense LED blue light to saturate seeds passing through a combine with chaff during harvest. Test units significantly decreased the average percent total germination for morning glory, fox millet, common ragweed and pigweed. For seeds treated with directed energy for 4 seconds, average total germination was reduced 97-99%.

“Blue light will become a regular tool for weed control in farming,” Jackson predicts.

Strangely, Jackson says in developing the technology behind the Weed Seed Destroyer, researchers found the same blue light used to destroy the viability of seeds, when applied at rates of about half those of the fatal dose, tended to quicken seed germination and boost post-germination plant growth. That discovery has allowed GNI to begin working on plant viability enhancement technology using DE. GNI is also developing products for terminating cover crops and controlling weeds that persist through the terminated cover crop mat.

To read more about managing weeds with precision technology tools,check out the full article here.

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