A SAFE, EFFECTIVE AND FAST WAY TO CONTROL RESISTANT WEEDS
2022 has already been a challenging year for many corn growers in the United States. Cold temperatures and rain throughout much of the corn belt delayed planting by several weeks. In many cases, typical pre (including burndown) programs were not applied. On May 22, the USDA reported the 18 states that planted 92% of corn acres in 2021, were at 72% planted this year as compared to 89% last year. Some fields planted in mid May experienced frost conditions leaving growers uncertain of the plant survival. As we moved toward June, emergence rates were behind a “typical” year. As conditions become favorable for corn growth, they will also allow for increased weed growth, and as we get closer to the mid to late June application cut off dates for dicamba, growers will seek programs that offer safe and effective solutions to weed control.
TOUGH® 5EC came to the corn market in the 2021 season. The active ingredient in TOUGH® 5EC is pyridate, and provides an effective tool for growers to control some of the most challenging weeds, especially resistant weeds such as Palmer amaranth, Common waterhemp, and Kochia. Chad Barnes, Certified Crop Specialist at Illini FS- Ogden, Illinois applied TOUGH 5EC to several fields in 2021. Chad commented in a recent program executed by Beck Ag; “At least four of the five fields that we tried TOUGH on were some of the worst– covered in water hemp. I got a lot of places that I can’t spray dicamba, and I saw fast kill with TOUGH, very equal to dicamba based products without the drift problems. I used it basically with mesotrione and glyphosate on the second pass and was very impressed with the weed control I got, and fields stayed clean to harvest. I was very happy with the results and the growers were excited that we actually got the fields clean.” Figure 1 shows one of the fields where TOUGH 5EC was applied.
Clint Einsphar, Location Manager of Aurora Coop, Bertrand Nebraska (formerly of PSI Applications) also put TOUGH 5EC to the test in 2021 and he too, was a panelist on the Beck Ag program. Einsphar commented: “With TOUGH, you didn’t see any damage. We used it from basically right after the corn came up all the way to the V7 stage and had some really great results with no corn breaking off. It kept us open on some of those guys that wanted to plant later. We could go in there and get it earlier and we had some awesome opportunities to use it across the board on different sizes of corn.”
Einsphar continued “We have a pretty severe case of kochia in our area and dicamba-based products or a secondary mode of action haven’t been working very well, and in the last few years is just getting worse. We tried TOUGH on a couple of severe fields and got excellent control of the kochia. Kochia was our main target and we got really good results; it was quick burn down there. Some of the kochia died in three days so it was awesome. It was an excellent secondary opportunity for us to try to use something different and we got good results. We just went full bore with it the rest of the spring season.” Figure 2 shows one area Clint treated with 8 oz/acre of TOUGH 5EC, 10 oz of Banvel® and 0.25 lb ai of atrazine. 10 days later the Kochia was dead.
TOUGH® 5EC works by blocking a weed’s photosystem II process, triggering the release of toxic forms of oxygen, and causing rapid cell wall degradation. Research, field trials and grower use in 2021 showed very positive results in control, when TOUGH® 5EC is added to an existing weed management program.
TOUGH 5EC Synergizes HPPD Herbicides and Enhances Atrazine
A synergetic effect has been observed when Pyridate is combined with HPPD inhibitor herbicides, such as mesotrione. When combined, the amount of toxic oxygen produced is increased, reducing the plants ability to detoxify these oxygen molecules. This in turn increases the speed of kill and reduces the competitive effect of growing weeds in crops. Dr. Prashant Jha, Iowa State University evaluated the effect of a combination of three effective modes of action – atrazine, HPPD inhibitor herbicides, and TOUGH® 5EC on resistant weeds in Iowa in the 200 and 2021 seasons. The results were impressive. Dr. Jha stated “Now we have three multiple modes of action, which is one of the best management practices. Pyridate is available faster to assist that HPPD ahead of the metabolic degradation process in HPPD resistant weeds, and that’s how it is a game changer.”
Adding TOUGH 5EC to your integrated weed management program is a great way to safely, quickly and effectively increase control of resistant weeds!