Danny Dion knows if cleavers get out of hand in his wheat or barley, he is going to have a problem. But when he uses Exhilarate herbicide, he can trust it to do a good job on the cleavers as well as other broadleaf weeds. He says that Exhilarate is formulated from a product he knew worked, and it was brought to the next level for even better performance.
“I used to use Paradigm and I liked it — we had really good results with it,” says Dion, who farms in the Peace region of Alberta. “But this is just a step up. Some of our weeds were coming in from our crop rotation and getting pretty big, and Exhilarate worked well when we needed it to, and was forgiving in terms of staging.”
“It’s great to have flexibility in weed staging — especially on weeds like buckwheat and cleavers which tend to come in well before the wheat.”
Ricki-Lea Keafe, Swan River, Man.
Exhilarate was launched in the 2021 growing season, bringing together two different chemistries — Paradigm plus MCPA ester. It’s used for control of broadleaf weeds in wheat and barley, including tough-to-manage species. It also includes Arylex active, which allows growers to spray on their terms due to its wide application window on small or large weeds, early or late crop staging, even when it’s cool.
“It’s really a nice product that covers all of the bases,” says Mark Johns, Technical Sales Agronomist with Corteva Agriscience. “Exhilarate punches above its weight class. That’s due to dual action of the chemistries which are stronger together. The way it is formulated you get a herbicide that can be applied from the three-leaf stage all the way to flag.”
Johns says that Corteva has included Arylex in seven of their herbicide offerings, including Exhilarate, for its added flexibility and unique Group 4 mode of action. “With Arylex you can delay the onset of target site resistance, as it’s the first in a dual class of synthetic auxin herbicides with a different binding site than other Group 4 products.”
Two modes of action
With overlapping modes of action, Exhilarate is an excellent resistance-management tool. It contains both Group 2 and Group 4 chemistries which control key broadleaf weeds such as cleavers, hemp nettle and dandelion. In total, Exhilarate is registered for control of 24 weeds and suppression of another six, including kochia. “Growers rotate their crop and their herbicides,” says Johns. “But research shows that using products with multiple modes of action can also help delay the onset of herbicide resistance.”
A box of Exhilarate contains a jug of Exhilarate A and two jugs of MCPA ester in a dry product formulation that acts as a liquid to mix quickly and disperse easily in the spray solution. It’s effective at a range of water volumes from five to 10 gallons per acre, depending on the crop canopy in order to get good penetration.
Exhilarate is effective across different soil zones and on many common weeds. It is less affected by cold weather or poor environmental conditions in the spring, and is more robust during the cooler springtime temperatures when it is often applied, while still controlling all the weeds on the label. Alone, it’s rainfast in an hour, and for growers in the black soil zone there are no rotational restrictions. Exhilarate is a reliable tank mix partner with Simplicity GoDRI, Axial and Everest for grass weed control.
Wide application window
Ricki-Lea Keafe is an agricultural consultant in Swan River, Manitoba. She recommends Exhilarate to wheat and barley growers in her area, as she says it’s very suitable for their weed spectrum and it’s very flexible on larger weeds.
“The wide window of application is something growers here are interested in because it can be very cool here at the start of the season,” she says. “We have had heavy pressure from wild buckwheat, cleavers and volunteer canola, and Exhilarate has been a very reliable performer against those weeds.”
Keafe says the addition of Arylex in Exhilarate has been key as they often have to wait until weeds are larger before they can apply a herbicide. “When we seed it is often still very cool, and by the time the weeds are ready to spray there has not been a lot of crop growth,” she says. “It’s great to have flexibility in weed staging — especially on weeds like buckwheat and cleavers which tend to come in well before the wheat.”
Keafe says they have also struggled with some Group 2-resistant broadleaf weeds, and the multiple modes of action help them address those concerns. “It’s just a very good chemical for our area.”
Dion says the multiple modes of action in Exhilarate are a big plus. “The more angles of attack we have on a weed, the longer we are able to keep all of our products effective,” he says. “I’ll take Exhilarate and use it on a different piece of land next year, moving the chemistry with my crop rotation to help keep the wheat clean. Exhilarate takes out everything I ask of it.”
