Weed management in fence rows and non-cropland is often as essential as it is within cropped areas. This is due to the weed's ability to distribute and establish itself rapidly. Weeds are typically prolific seed producers; therefore, they should be controlled prior to seed production. This document is intended for land owners and managers to aid in vegetation control in fence rows.
Cultural Control
Prevention is the key to avoiding weed problems. For example, if weeds are present in fence rows of cropped areas or non-cropland adjacent to cropped areas, they will eventually become a weed problem in the cropped area. Prevention methods include cleaning equipment, keeping noncrop areas mowed (preferably prior to seedhead stage), and maintaining optimum soil fertility and pH levels.
Chemical Control
Foliar applications provide more rapid control of existing vegetation, but for a shorter length of time than soil-applied. The herbicides listed in Table 2 and Table 3 will provide a list of herbicides approved for use on fence rows. Soil applications will provide residual control.
For woody species, specialized application techniques will often need to be employed for adequate control. These include basal, cut stump, and hack-and-squirt applications. For detailed review of these procedures, please reference the EDIS document SS-AGR-260, Herbicide Application Techniques for Woody Plant Control (https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/ag245).
All labels should be read carefully because the listed herbicides may provide complete bareground control or injure non-target species.
Calibration
Always calibrate the sprayer prior to applying a herbicide. For foliar applications, the spray volume will usually range from 20 to 40 gallons per acre for light to moderate vegetation. For dense vegetation, typically 100 to 200 gallons per acre is required. Mix the suggested herbicide rate per acre in appropriate volumes of water and spray the vegetation until wet.
It is often desirable to know the length of an acre when band-spraying areas such as fence rows. See Table 1 for this information.
Table 1. Band width and corresponding distance required to treat one acre.
Table 2. Herbicides for Preemergence and Postemergence Applications (Soil and Foliar Applied). Contact: Brent Sellers (sellersb@ufl.edu).
Table 3. Herbicides for Postemergence Applications (Foliar Applied). Contact: Brent Sellers (sellersb@ufl.edu).