Site-specific Management Guidelines
http://www.farmresearch.com/SSMG/

SSMG-15 Scouting for Weeds - S. Clay and G. Johnson
The concept behind scouting for weeds is to provide accurate and timely information needed to make intelligent, cost effective decisions. Moreover, scouting is a key component in the design of effective weed management strategies that help to manage risks by providing information needed to optimize the correct timing of herbicides and accurately monitor weed management successes and failures. This requires one to think about dynamic and flexible weed management systems to meet challenging demands. Adaptive sampling strategies (rather than fixed strategies such as grid sampling) are flexible and build on previous information and experience. Adaptive approaches also result in more dynamic data gathering systems that can be used to determine if the current weed management system is or is not meeting your goals. We can also assess if given weed species are increasing or decreasing in density and area. Being able to adjust sampling strategies based on previous observations is critical and must be taken into account each year. Experience coupled with flexibility is the key to obtaining reliable data needed to make intelligent site-specific weed management decisions.

SSMG-7 Variable Rate Equipment Technology for Weed Control - D. Humburg
Sprayer controllers have been developed by agricultural equipment vendors to minimize variation of applied rates of chemicals within fields. The control systems that allow these devices to compensate for changes in vehicle speeds now also provide the potential to apply variable rates of pesticides according to preplanned maps. The types of sprayer systems and controllers capable of variable rate control are discussed here, along with their advantages and disadvantages. Communications between task computers used to store maps and these sprayer controllers are also discussed.