The Hays free press. [volume] (Hays, Kan.) 1908-1924, 1922-07-27
wAcINc war on Bind WEED
By HarlO V. Mellquist

glorious about it, has caused L. J.
Kuchman of Clay county, a lot of
worry and grief. He is struggling
with it this summer in his corn, wheat
and Sudan grass fields.
During the lat four years Kuchman
has waged steady war on the bind
weed and it has hit back at him vic
iously, cutting down his yields and
striving to hold on to the ground it
had once conquered.
Bind weed is driving Kuchman out
of corn and into wheat. He believes
he has better chance Of getting the
best of it if he grows wheat for a few
years as it appears almost impossible
to control the weed by cultivating
corn.
Often Becomes Persistent Pest
The bindweed is one of the most
persistent clinging vines. 1t wraps
itself securely around any object with
which it can get in contact. A corn
stalk delights it and invites rapid
growth upward. Just a hint of an in
vitation is enough for the bind weed.
1t gets along with little encourage
ment.
Once wrapped around corn stalk
it is practically impossible to dislodge
a bind weed with tiIlage instruments
A man could go through the field and
pull them up and drag them from the
stalks, but that isn't feasible on so or
100 acres.
Kuchman was a mechanic in an
Illinois garage until four years ago.
Then he came to Clay county to take
charge of his mothers farm. 1t had
been in the hands of renters for
thirty years. Bind weed had gotten
a good start and felt that it owned
the soil. The place had been pretty
steadily cropped to corn and the fer
tility of the soil was reduced.
The first year the bind weed slip
ped up from behind and handed him
a stiff wallop but ne got up before the
final count of ten. That is when the
real scrap started and it has been go
ing full tilt ever since Kuchman
says it viii continue until the bind
weed IS whipped to fragile, one
way or another.
One thing that three years of fight
ing has taught him is that if corn is
planted late there is a much better
chance to keep bind weed under con-
troll and cultivate it out of existence.
He had evidence on the place in two
al ~,
small stalks in areas where bind weed
is thick. On later planted ground
cultivation has kept the bind weed
down and the corn is more robust.
Kuchman believes he has worked
out a system of tllage in combination
with wheat growing which eventually
will win against bind weed by wear
ing it out. His system is to list the
ground Immediately after threshing
and leave it until the bind weed vines
get a good start on the ridges. Then
he splits the ridges, covering up the
vines.
About three weeks before he is
ready to drill, Kuchman goes over the
field with a weed cutter, 6hrowing in
the ridges and destroying any new
vines that have gotten a start. A dit
tie later the field is narrowed cross
wise, smoothing down the remaining
ridges and destroying surviving
weeds.
Incidentally this treatment of the
soil works it up into an excellent
seed-bed for wheat and, other things
being equal, gives the grain a good
start.
AS flank attack on the bind weed
Kuchman is preparing to work into
a system of crop rotation designed to
build up the SOIL He intends TO sow
fifteen acres of alfalfa or sweet
clover. He has eight acres of alfal-
ia now but desires forty to sixty
acres. Once this acreage is estab-
lished he will begin to rotate his crops
every year planting new acreage to
some legume and blowing up alfalfa.
Use of all manure produced will
aid this fertility building system, af-
fording to crops added strength to
combat the attacks of the bind weed
Those portions of the farm on
which the soil is richest are the most
easily brought under control so fan
as bind weeds are concerned, Mr..
Kuchman says. So he is devoting 3
good bit of attention to building up
fertility where the bind weed is en-
trenched.
He would scatter wheat straw gen
erously except that it is full of bind
weed seed. Hereafter the straw will
be left to rot for two years before il