Published 2011-12-01
Abstract
Sweet basil (Ocimum basilicumL.) is one of the world’s most popular herbs, with much of the U.S. fresh market basil being produced in Florida. Basil herbicide trials were initiated to select potential candidates for chemical weed control of pigweed, purslane, lambsquarters, and goosegrass in commercial production. On sandy soils, pre-emergence application of linuron at 0.1 lb/acre and napropamide at 3.93 lb/acre resulted in the highest basil yield (8,302 lb/acre and 5,229 lb/acre, respectively) and satisfactory weed control (75.3% and 79.3%, respectively). In the combinations of pre-/post-emergence herbicide treatments, linuron at 0.15 lb per acre/linuron at 0.05 lb per acre scored the highest yield (13,280 lb/acre) and satisfactory weed control (73.5% and 96.8%, respectively). On muck soils, pre-emergence application of linuron at 0.125, 0.25, and 0.375 lb/acre resulted in significant weed control and acceptable crop vigor. Of the post-emergence treatments, only linuron at 0.1 lb/acre provided significant weed control with minimal reductions in crop vigor. Prometryn resulted in crop death and imazethapyr significantly reduced crop vigor at the rates tested. Of the combination of pre-/post-emergence herbicide treatment, only linuron at 0.125 lb per acre/linuron at 0.10 lb per acre resulted in reasonable crop vigor (63%) and good weed control (91%).