One thing for sure, you want to handle multi-Group herbicides correctly from the get-go.
You’ve walked your fields with an agronomist you trust. The agronomist has identified weeds you didn’t know you had. You tell your retailer about your weed
spectrum, and the retailer suggests a new herbicide you haven’t used before. When you read the label, you suddenly realize that you are going to spray a herbicide
with three separate herbicide Groups listed on the label. How do you handle that?
“As chemicals get more complicated and we get two or three Groups in premixed products, producers need to know what’s in the products,” says Kim Brown-Livingston, farm production advisor with Manitoba Agriculture Food and Rural Initiatives in Carman. “Farmers want to familiarize themselves with the names of the active ingredients for each component in the product.”
The name of the active ingredient won’t change, but trade names come and go as new products are added and subtracted every year. “Herbicide trade names change every year,” says Chad Effertz, Arysta LifeScience herbicide and insecticide development manager in Minot, North Dakota. “With the addition of generics we’ve got many more names now. There are no more active ingredients; there are just more products. It’s a lot to keep track of.” Brown-Livingston says, “Most people know whether the chemical they’re using is safe for the crop, but they also need to ask: Will this product fit with what I’m going to grow in this field next year and the year after? Make sure the chemical fits your long term rotation plan.”
Effertz says that often the easiest choice for the farmer is to use a familiar product over and over again. However, there are a few pitfalls: resistance can build up and the product may not be the best fit for the farmer’s particular weed spectrum. “We don’t want to use the same chemistry in back-to-back years,” Effertz says. “It takes some planning to figure out how to rotate out of a product with two or three chemical Groups. You might not
be able to rotate out of every Group completely every season, but you can at least rotate half your acres. That will shake things up a little bit and prolong the productivity of the herbicide’s active ingredients. A lot of producers are seeking the help and advice of their retailers. I think this is a good idea. Chemistry is complicated and nobody wants to see weed escapes.”
Preventing weed escapes in the field can depend on whether the producer has identified the active ingredient(s). “If I check a field and find a bunch of wild oats, I want to ask the farmer if he has resistance issues and, if so, what Group he’s using for control,” says Darin Chrisp, manager of Munro Farm Supplies Ltd. in Neepawa, Manitoba. “A farmer may not know the Groups in a new chemical. If the farmer has a weed that’s resistant to a certain Group, he’d have weed escapes.”
If you’re working with a herbicide that contains more than one Group, read the label and write down the active ingredient as well as the chemical’s trade name – before you head to the field.
Brian Schilling, Arysta LifeScience product development manager in Edmonton, Alberta, says: “It is important to record what you sprayed on your field the year before. You want to record your active ingredients and the site of action. Keep good scouting notes that include what weeds were and were not controlled. Then you’ll have an idea of what your issues might be the following year.”
At the very least, record more than the product’s trade name. Enter into your herbicide records whether the product is a grassy or broadleaf herbicide (or both), the field or site where applied, the herbicide Group and active ingredient, e.g., glyphosate, flucarbazone, bromoxynil.
Record the Group and chemical information at the time of application or even before you get to the field. Brown-Livingston says, “Two years from now your record-keeping information could be very important, and the trade name may no longer be easy to find.”
Record keeping is a key to success when working with multi-Group herbicide products. Schilling says, “After the application of a onepass solution with two or more Groups, don’t walk away from the field until you’ve done your record keeping.”
Effertz says some of the products with multiple herbicide Groups have made things easier. “Tank mixing three or four products in one spray tank was difficult and often resulted in poor performance,” he points out. “Trying to keep track of rates and which surfactants to use was confusing. Sometimes antagonism between the products would occur. Many of the new multiple herbicide Group products have been formulated at specific ratios to overcome these potential antagonism issues and to simplify surfactant use.”
For best results, add field scouting to great record keeping and application techniques. “Make sure you’re controlling all the weeds and no escapes are occurring,” Schilling advises. “Go into the field two weeks or a month after the herbicide application to be sure the application is working as expected.”
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One thing for sure, you want to handle multi-Group herbicides correctly from the get-go.
You’ve walked your fields with an agronomist you trust. The agronomist has identified weeds you didn’t know you had. You tell your retailer about your weed
spectrum, and the retailer suggests a new herbicide you haven’t used before. When you read the label, you suddenly realize that you are going to spray a herbicide
with three separate herbicide Groups listed on the label. How do you handle that?
“As chemicals get more complicated and we get two or three Groups in premixed products, producers need to know what’s in the products,” says Kim Brown-Livingston, farm production advisor with Manitoba Agriculture Food and Rural Initiatives in Carman. “Farmers want to familiarize themselves with the names of the active ingredients for each component in the product.”
The name of the active ingredient won’t change, but trade names come and go as new products are added and subtracted every year. “Herbicide trade names change every year,” says Chad Effertz, Arysta LifeScience herbicide and insecticide development manager in Minot, North Dakota. “With the addition of generics we’ve got many more names now. There are no more active ingredients; there are just more products. It’s a lot to keep track of.” Brown-Livingston says, “Most people know whether the chemical they’re using is safe for the crop, but they also need to ask: Will this product fit with what I’m going to grow in this field next year and the year after? Make sure the chemical fits your long term rotation plan.”
Effertz says that often the easiest choice for the farmer is to use a familiar product over and over again. However, there are a few pitfalls: resistance can build up and the product may not be the best fit for the farmer’s particular weed spectrum. “We don’t want to use the same chemistry in back-to-back years,” Effertz says. “It takes some planning to figure out how to rotate out of a product with two or three chemical Groups. You might not
be able to rotate out of every Group completely every season, but you can at least rotate half your acres. That will shake things up a little bit and prolong the productivity of the herbicide’s active ingredients. A lot of producers are seeking the help and advice of their retailers. I think this is a good idea. Chemistry is complicated and nobody wants to see weed escapes.”
Preventing weed escapes in the field can depend on whether the producer has identified the active ingredient(s). “If I check a field and find a bunch of wild oats, I want to ask the farmer if he has resistance issues and, if so, what Group he’s using for control,” says Darin Chrisp, manager of Munro Farm Supplies Ltd. in Neepawa, Manitoba. “A farmer may not know the Groups in a new chemical. If the farmer has a weed that’s resistant to a certain Group, he’d have weed escapes.”
If you’re working with a herbicide that contains more than one Group, read the label and write down the active ingredient as well as the chemical’s trade name – before you head to the field.
Brian Schilling, Arysta LifeScience product development manager in Edmonton, Alberta, says: “It is important to record what you sprayed on your field the year before. You want to record your active ingredients and the site of action. Keep good scouting notes that include what weeds were and were not controlled. Then you’ll have an idea of what your issues might be the following year.”
At the very least, record more than the product’s trade name. Enter into your herbicide records whether the product is a grassy or broadleaf herbicide (or both), the field or site where applied, the herbicide Group and active ingredient, e.g., glyphosate, flucarbazone, bromoxynil.
Record the Group and chemical information at the time of application or even before you get to the field. Brown-Livingston says, “Two years from now your record-keeping information could be very important, and the trade name may no longer be easy to find.”
Record keeping is a key to success when working with multi-Group herbicide products. Schilling says, “After the application of a onepass solution with two or more Groups, don’t walk away from the field until you’ve done your record keeping.”
Effertz says some of the products with multiple herbicide Groups have made things easier. “Tank mixing three or four products in one spray tank was difficult and often resulted in poor performance,” he points out. “Trying to keep track of rates and which surfactants to use was confusing. Sometimes antagonism between the products would occur. Many of the new multiple herbicide Group products have been formulated at specific ratios to overcome these potential antagonism issues and to simplify surfactant use.”
For best results, add field scouting to great record keeping and application techniques. “Make sure you’re controlling all the weeds and no escapes are occurring,” Schilling advises. “Go into the field two weeks or a month after the herbicide application to be sure the application is working as expected.”
Write a comment
- Required fields are marked with *.