Weed Controi, in Puerto Rico

Sugar cane growers in Puerto Rico are faced with problems of weed control as any other farmer in the world. He is faced with increased cost of production of cane, through higher labor and material costs. When labor costs were low, much of the weed control was done by many men using machetes and other implements. As every farmer knows "weeds are plants out of place." Since beginning of farming, man has been confronted with undesirable species of plants, obnoxious and peristant. Puerto Rican cane fields are no different. The weeds are obnoxious and certainly very peristant due to good conditions for plant growth. One only has to observe an abandoned sugar cane field to realized how rapidly the weeds in Puerto Rico can completely over shadow the sugar cane plant. Every farmer know he must combat these undesirable plants if he is to grow sugar cane. I t is impossible to estimate how much, weeds are reducting to full productivity of our sugar cane crop. Studies at University of Illinois3 has shown that one grass like weed per seven square feet caused a reduction over three bushels of corn per acre. Poor weed control practices undoubtly are causing reduced tons cane and sugar per acre in Puerto Rico. Sugar cane field are infested with both grasses and broad leaf of many species such as Digitaria, Eleusine, Chloris, Cynodus, P a ~ z i c u m , Paspalum, Cyperus, Portulacca, Crotalaria, Eqbhorbia, A m a r a n t h s , Impomoea, and many others. In the past two decades many new types chemicals were developed through chemistry to provide farmers with added tools for the combating weeds. Chemicals names, such as, z,4-D, Kuron, Silvex, Telvar, Atrazine, Karmex, and simazine are familiar all through the industry. At one time or another most farmers have used these new chemicals with good succes, and sometimes with dissappointing results.