Most new products are variations of older ones
This year's "new" crop of corn herbicides consists primarily of existing products with new or altered names or changed formulations.
The challenge is trying to figure out which chemical company owns what. Four mergers/joint ventures involved nine companies over the past year or so. For a list of companies and herbicides, log on to our Web site (soybeandigest.com). A new, online Corn Weed Control Guide will soon be up and running, and will also provide links to product labels.
The 2001 new-product lineup includes three all-new herbicides. Here's what they have to offer:
Outlook, from BASF, which has been busy incorporating American Cyanamid products, is a new grass herbicide.
"It has activity on broadleaves, too," says Jon Sweat, BASF technical market manager. "Growers can expect better broadleaf weed control than with traditional corn grass herbicides." Its active ingredient: dimethenamid-P. Limited supplies will be available this year.
Steadfast, from DuPont Crop Protection, is a new postemergence herbicide developed specifically for the northern Midwest's tough grasses.
Formulated as a dry-flowable, it will be marketed exclusively through a new, computerized bulk dispensing system that eliminates use of bottles or jugs.
Aventis CropScience (created from the AgrEvo-Rhone Poulenc merger at the end of 1999) joined forces with Bayer to market Define. It's a preplant/pre-emergence herbicide that controls most problem grasses plus some small-seeded broadleaves, such as waterhemp.
"Define, mixed with Balance or followed by Liberty herbicide, will give corn growers the weed control program they have been asking for at an economical price," says Rob Schrick, Aventis product lead.
A dry-flowable product, it will be packaged in two 25-lb containers per case and in Accu-Bin bulk delivery systems. Its active ingredient, flufenacet, is already found in Bayer products, such as Epic and Axiom.
Corn herbicides with new names and/or new formulations include these:
Aventis changed Balance from a granular to a liquid formulation, now called Balance Pro. A low-dose herbicide, its application rates range from 1.5 to 3.5 fluid ounces/acre.
Touchdown, from Syngenta, the by-product of the Novartis-Zeneca merger, was formerly known as Touchdown 5. Touchdown 5 has had Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) registration to be used over Roundup Ready (RR) soybeans and for burndown. The new product is also registered for over-the-top applications on RR corn and cotton.
The new Touchdown minimizes potential phytotoxicity to RR crops because the glyphosate salt and adjuvants are gentle on leaf surfaces, says Bill Beutke, Syngenta brand manager. Touchdown controls more than 170 weeds, including velvetleaf, cocklebur, waterhemp, johnsongrass and foxtails. Typical use rate: 1 quart/acre.
Gramoxone Max, also from Syngenta, is replacing Gramoxone Extra. It has 3 lbs of active ingredient per gallon, as compared to the old product's 2 1/2-lb concentration. It's EPA-registered in all states but California, where approval is pending.
Boa, from Griffin, is now available for those who want the old Gramoxone Extra rate. Its active ingredient rate is 2 1/2 lbs/acre of paraquat.
Agriliance, the agronomy marketing joint venture of Cenex Harvest States Cooperatives, Farmland Industries and Land O'Lakes, introduces Sterling. This preplant, pre-emergence and post herbicide carries a familiar active ingredient: dicamba, the same used in Banvel. Sterling Plus, a combination of dicamba and atrazine, is an alternative to Marksman.
Kamba, from NuFarm Americas, is another new proprietary name with dicamba as its active ingredient. It controls most broadleaves.
Sim-Trol, from Sipcam Agro, controls most annual broadleaves and grasses as a preplant and pre-emerge herbicide. Its active ingredient: simazine.
Repose, from Cedar Chemical, is primarily a pre-emergence/post grass herbicide but it does control a few broadleaf weeds as well. An alternative to Prowl, its active ingredient is pendimethalin.
Shroud, also from Cedar Chemical, is a preplant/pre-emergence herbicide that controls a broad spectrum of grasses and a few broadleaves, including nightshade and waterhemp. Much like Lasso, its active ingredient is alachlor.