Weed control is important in successful celery production. Early weed control is especially critical. Competition from weeds such as amaranth during the first 4 weeks of the crop in the field can result in a 30%–40% reduction in quality grades at final harvest.

Dual Magnum® has a third-party registration for use in Florida. For legal use of herbicides, the grower (applicator) must obtain the label for celery from the third-party registrant (in this case TPR, Inc., Orlando).

Linuron (Lorox®) or prometryn (Caparol®) do a good job of controlling most of the young emerged annual weeds in the field. Both of these have specific timings for application to the crop as well as the weeds.

Sethoxydim (Poast®) and clethodim (Select®) control the grasses emerged in the crop if applied properly. Poast® may be applied up to 14 days before harvest. Select® has a 30-day postharvest interval.

Cultivation is an effective control method for weeds in celery, especially young plants. Care must be taken, however, to not prune the crop's roots. Research has shown that celery quality can be reduced if mechanical cultivation and/or hand hoeing are not done properly.

Use only labeled herbicides in the proper formulation. Read the label carefully for the proper rate and timing for each application. Table 1 includes rates and brief remarks for herbicides registered for preplant/preemergence application. Table 2 includes herbicides registered for posttransplant/postemergence in celery.

Celery is the representative commodity in the leaf petioles subgroup of the leafy vegetables EPA group. Cardoon, Chinese celery, celtuce, fennel, rhubarb, and Swiss chard are also in this group. Labels for celery may sometimes include one or more of these other petiole vegetables. See recommendations and labels.

Tables