DuPont Canada has added a third active ingredient and mode of action to its herbicide tank-mix product Guardian, for release under the brand Guardian Plus.
Guardian is a combination package which includes DuPont’s Group 2 chlorimuron ethyl product Classic and a glyphosate weed killer such as Polaris or Touchdown Total. The Guardian Plus package released Monday also includes the flumioxazin herbicide Valtera.
Soybean growers can use Guardian Plus as a pre-plant burndown up to 30 days before planting, or pre-emergence control up to three days after planting, the company said in a release.
Read Also
U.S. grains: Corn rebounds from contract lows on short covering, bargain buying
Bargain buying and short covering lifted U.S. corn futures on Monday after the market slid to contract lows on expectations for strong U.S. output, traders said.
The new tank mix combo “hits the sweet spot that lets growers control yield-robbing weeds early and then lets the enhanced residual control take over,” Andrew Stone, DuPont Canada’s product manager for corn, soybean and specialty herbicides, said in the release.
“If environmental conditions co-operate, that could mean (growers are) done spraying for weeds after one pass.”
Growers who plant glyphosate-tolerant (GT) soybeans are well aware that using only glyphosate in such crops boosts the risk of weed resistance, DuPont said. “Plus, banking on a single application of glyphosate later in the season often costs yield.”
“Growers want more than straight glyphosate in GT soybeans and in-crop weed control in (identity-preserved) soybeans can be pricey,” Stone said, adding the new tank mix “solves both these problems.”
Flumioxazin, as found in Valtera, provides control of “troublesome” weeds, as well as resistance management and grass control, the company said. Chlorimuron ethyl, the active ingredient in Classic, “contributes knockdown and residual control of annual and perennial broadleaf weeds, and suppression of annual grasses and volunteer corn.” Glyphosate, meanwhile, is well known as a broad-spectrum weed control in burndown.
The new tank mix will be packaged in a box designed to treat 10 acres, as well as in DuPont’s “Mega” format, a 400-litre tote to treat 400 acres, the company said.
