Control Weeds at Your Facility

Maintaining sports fields and other turfgrass requires careful attention. In addition to ensuring your fields are getting enough water, you also need to control weeds. Most facilities rely on herbicides to keep weeds off the field, and need effective solutions.

Q: Our turfgrass fields have a lot of weeds, and we're looking for a better solution for applying herbicides. What should we know?

A: You need a weed management system that applies herbicides effectively, but only where needed. You can find rotary weed wipers that provide an aggressive but economical way to apply herbicides to control weeds on your fields.

A weed wiper includes a steel rotating drum covered with a specialized synthetic carpet-like material wetted by a 12-volt pump. The carpet holds the herbicide until it comes into contact with weeds, ensuring maximum chemical transfer to undesirable vegetation on your fields.

As the drum passes over weeds, the plants it touches automatically release the herbicide from the absorbent cover to the weakest part of the plant, the undersides of leaves and the stem. Larger plants will exert more pressure, which means they'll get a proportionately larger dose of herbicide. The rotating drum doesn't physically damage the weeds, which means evapo-transpiration can continue, which quickly moves herbicides into the plant's root system, resulting in more thorough eradication of weeds.

Q: What else should we consider?

A: Look for a system that has been designed to eliminate drip and prevent herbicide from drifting where it's not needed. Drip can be prevented when the rotating drum turns in the opposite direction of travel. In addition, the boom sprayer that keeps the rotating drum saturated with chemicals should be shielded to prevent potential drift issues.

The operator should be able to adjust the height of the rotating drum to keep it above the grasses you want to keep. If a height difference is not possible, more selective herbicides can be used.