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Ten years ago, Imperial Nurseries in Granby, Conn., wasn’t very happy with its weed-control program.

The company used primarily granular pre-emergent herbicides applied by hand-held rotary spreaders. Application was inconsistent and labor intensive.

Now the company is incorporating a system of overheald spray booms and spreaders in order to reduce labor and increase efficiency. Without human error, the containers are more apt to receive equal amounts of herbicide product. Weed “hot spots” in the production blocks were limited.

Only during the first application of the year (around the third week of March when the plastic on hoop houses is ventilated but not fully pulled) is hand application used, said Sali Barolli, plant health manager. And now this first application of the year is a liquid pre-emergent rather than a granular.

The second, third and fourth applications of the year (applied in 8-week intervals) are administered with a liquid boom sprayer that can treat 35 acres per day. The boom width is 100 feet. A final fall granular application is applied with an Orbit-Air overhead spreader that can apply product to 10 acres of crops per day. The boom can reaches over a single 14-foot hoop house.

Barolli has a couple of tips to improve the effectiveness of pre-emergent herbicides: Apply liquid herbicides when foliage is wet, and irrigate the crops 25-30 minutes after application. This will remove herbicides from the foliage and drain it to the media surfaces where it belongs.

For granular products apply when foliage is dry, and again irrigate crops 25-30 minutes after application. And never apply granular herbicides if the wind is more than 10 mph.


For more: Imperial Nurseries, (800) 950-6051; www.imperialnurseries.com.

Here are two tips to improve the effectiveness of pre-emergent herbicides: Apply liquid herbicide when foliage is wet, and irrigate the crops 25-30 minutes after application.