Fall herbicide can pay dividends in spring

Fall serves as a time for farmers to celebrate the harvest, evaluate the season and make plans for next. But finding actively growing weeds like marestail in recently harvested fields can quickly turn fall into a time of high anxiety.

“Burndown treatments after harvest can provide an antidote for fall weed worries,” said Kent Bennis, market development specialist, Corteva Agriscience, Agriculture Division of DowDuPont, Indianapolis, Indiana. “Additionally, when a fall burndown treatment is combined with a spring residual herbicide, farmers will see cleaner fields right through planting.”

Benefits of fall weed control include:

• Lessening weed pressure so fields are ready to plant as soon as farmers are ready;
• Reducing the dead mat of weeds common after a spring burndown to speed soil warming and dryout, especially in no-till fields;
• Keeping soil moisture available for the young crop;
• Helping create a warmer, drier seedbed for uniform emergence and better seedling vigor; and
• Decreasing insect pressure by eliminating the conditions insect populations use to become established.

“The control we’ve seen in fields and demonstration trials, even on actively growing marestail up to 8 inches tall, makes our new Elevore herbicide a game-changing fall burndown treatment,” said Chris Pritchett, U.S. soybean herbicide product manager, Corteva Agriscience.

The formulation of Elevore herbicide uses a systemic approach, killing weeds from the inside out for a more thorough spectrum of control on postharvest weeds. Without fall control, those weeds can establish over the winter, which increases potential seed production. This can increase the need for higher rates of burndown herbicides in the spring to control what are now larger and harder-to-control weeds.

Elevore is powered by Arylex active, a new Group Four growth regulator discovered by Corteva Agriscience, and Elevore is in a novel class of herbicides that act through a synthetic auxin mechanism to control broadleaf weeds in burndown. This activity works through a gradual absorption process, making immediate visual signs of control less apparent. But once absorbed, mainly through leaves, shoots and roots of plants, Arylex active is translocated through the plant, delivering more complete and effective control in trials on actively growing postharvest weeds.

Elevore herbicide is labeled for use in soybeans, corn and cotton and is tank-mix-compatible with commonly used burndown and residual herbicide partners, including glyphosate and 2,4-D.

For more information, see a dealer or visit ElevateYourBurndown.com.