Spring top dressing in particular can benefit downy brome growth and increase winter wheat yield loss due to increased competition. Deep placement of nitrogen during the summer fallow period would have given the more deeply rooted wheat a competitive advantage. With moderate to severe infestations of downy brome, it is advisable to forgo top dressing. This will minimize infestations and provide better return to investment of herbicide and other production expenses. Use cultural or mechanical methods to enhance germination of downy brome this fall, after which tillage or non-selective herbicides can be used to control the weed.
Germination is enhanced by even distribution and greater soil contact of the downy brome seed.
Light tillage following wheat harvest will increase contact between soil and seed. Skewtredding is also effective, particularly where it is desirable to leave more surface residue than is left by disking or sweep cultivation. Even post harvest harrowing is more effective than applying no tillage, although effectiveness will largely depend on the timeliness of fall rains, the relative effective ranking of disk, sweep, cultivator, skewtredder, harrow, no treatment management has been shown in both dry and moist years. Managing downy brome soil seed banks is particularly effective because of downy brome's short seed life. Typically, the downy brome soil seed bank can be nearly eliminated if no influx of seed occurs over two years.