Roger Seggern knows he’s a tough manager.

“I’m a hard boss to work for. I admit it,” Seggern says. “I want things to be just right, and that’s why I like the Enlist weed control system. It is just right.”

Seggern farms about 2,900 acres with 850 acres dedicated to cotton. He rotates cotton after corn about every third year to help with weed control. Occasionally, he grows wheat on the hillsides.

Lessons learned on and off the farm have taught Seggern to be persistent. After graduating high school, he attended college near his home, but his heart was back on the farm.

“I was working in a basement with no windows,” he recalls. “And it felt like the walls were closing in on me. I went back to the dorm and called home.”

His father didn’t give in quite so easily and challenged his son to finish the semester. If he felt the same at semester’s end, they would talk about his coming back to the farm. Seggern remained steadfast and came home. In 1981, he took what he learned from his father and grandfather and farmed fields on his own for the first time.

Seggern is the fourth generation to work some of the same land his great-grandfather purchased when he settled near Taylor, Texas, in the late 1800s.

Tough on weeds

Seggern does all he can to eliminate weeds in his fields. Several species of pigweed, including waterhemp, along with false ragweed and even sunflowers cause the most trouble. Typically, his weed control program in cotton includes applying a yellow herbicide early followed by a postemergence application of glufosinate. As a second postapplication, he’ll use either Enlist Duo^® herbicide or a tank mix of Enlist One^® herbicide and his preferred glyphosate.

“I love the flexibility and uses of the Enlist system,” Seggern says. “We had no trouble with volatility with Enlist Duo or Enlist One. Sprayer cleanout was easy as we went into corn.”

He gets consistent weed control with Enlist^® herbicides, and the yield from PhytoGen^® cottonseed is a plus. This year, Seggern has planted PhytoGen brand PHY 490 W3FE, PHY 480 W3FE and PHY 340 W3FE. He particularly likes PHY 340 W3FE because it’s an early to mid-maturing variety that he can plant on heavy ground and still get excellent yield.

Planting PhytoGen brand varieties with the Enlist trait simply makes sense to Seggern. “It’s really a no-brainer for us to plant Enlist cotton,” he says.

A close eye on wind

Seggern watches wind speed and wind direction closely during applications. He prefers to apply Enlist herbicides when the wind is between 3 and 5 mph, and he never applies at wind speeds above 10 mph, according to Texas state regulations. Communication is key to maintaining good relationships with his neighbors. Seggern makes sure he knows what crops are in surrounding fields before applying any herbicide.

“We don’t want to have any issues, and we’ve never had any issues to this date,” he says. “We are really careful about it. We watch wind direction. We don’t want to hurt our neighbors.”

Seggern credits some of his success to the support he receives from his PhytoGen representatives.

“We get along well with our field reps,” he says. “When I call them, they have answers right away. I like it. They are a big plus, too, with PhytoGen.”