Earlier this week we were preparing fields and planting some of our rotation/tillage trials on the research station. Our focus was corn, and as we ran the strip till rig, I noticed a lot of peanut pods. There was a significant amount of pod loss during digging at this location in 2024. We were planting corn, and we started to plant a corn hybrid that was not glufosinate (Liberty) resistant. When I noticed the potential for volunteer peanuts, we decided not to plant that hybrid and went to a distributor to purchase a LibertyLink hybrid. We will be glad we did. Corn would have competed well with volunteer peanuts and there would not have been a yield impact. Glyphosate and Bicep would have suppressed peanuts but not killed them. Volunteer peanuts can be hard to kill. Even if corn yield was not affected, volunteer peanuts growing in that field for the balance of the season are a bridge for pathogens and disease in the future. A timely application of glufosinate in corn will control the emerged peanuts well.
In this image you will also see green vegetation on the sides of the tilled zone. This is not ideal. Due to logistics and a lot going on, the row crop area of our sod-based system trial (tall fescue was seeded in other blocks last fall) had not been burned down. With the LibertyLink hybrid, we have all the options to get rid of peanuts and other weeds now and when the corn emerges even though we are starting the burndown sprays later than we would like to.