This sounds like it’s straight out of science fiction, but it’s real and may soon become standard on all combines. Blue LED light is capable of stunting the growth of herbicide resistant weed seed, but now LED technology could be harnessed to work with a combine to damage weed seed on-the-go. The means to kill weed seed with light has arrived. The Weed Seed Destroyer is a combine bolt-on unit utilizing mild warming and intense LED rays to saturate weed seed as it passes with the chaff flow during harvest. The seed-killing device is ready for Spring cutting trials in Tennessee wheat and Ohio barley.
According to Jon Jackson, the innovator behind the Weed Seed Destroyer, LED light is going to become a regular tool for weed control in farming. The Destroyer, a tubed and augured system, attaches to the rear of a combine, warms and exposes seed to blue LED lights as the chaff tumbles through–all on the fly. It operates at standard combine speed and requires only 10 horsepower to function. We’ll keep you informed of the test results this Spring.
