Growers have 12 new soybean herbicides to check out if they haven't already made their spring buying decisions.
Of those 12, six include glyphosate, the active ingredient in Roundup herbicide. Others are new chemistries or combinations of older, proven products.
Domain, from Bayer Corp., is a new combination of metribuzin and flufenacet, the company's new oxyacetamide grass chemistry. It can be applied preplant or pre-emergent without incorporation, or as a burndown, followed by a post application of another herbicide.
"Domain provides three to six weeks of early season residual control of many weeds, including velvetleaf, lambsquarter and waterhemp species that often escape in post programs," says Scott Fleetwood, soybean market manager.
Novartis' Boundary is a preplant, pre-emergent herbicide that has two non-ALS modes of action. As with Domain, Boundary is being marketed as the "pre" product in a pre-post program. Its contains metribuzin and S-metolachlor, the active ingredient in Dual II Magnum.
"We designed Boundary to help soybean producers get the most efficient and effective weed control possible out of their planned post program, from tough-to-control foxtails to tall waterhemp. And, to get it without risking yield loss from early season weed competition, weather or other application delays," says crop manager Carroll Moseley.
The herbicide softens up nightshade, nutsedge, smartweed, waterhemp and other tough weeds for post control, Moseley adds.
Dow's Pendimax is for growers seeking soil-applied grass control. A formulation of pendimethalin, the active ingredient in Prowl, it controls foxtail, johnsongrass, fall panicum, barnyardgrass, crabgrass and other grasses and broadleaves. Because it doesn't require incorporation, Pendimax can be used in no-till fields.
Blazer Ultra, from BASF, improves on Blazer's crop safety, says Chuck Kupatt, soybean product manager. "We've done some things to reduce the burn" often associated with Blazer, he adds. Although the Blazer burn didn't reduce yields, he's quick to add, it didn't make for good-looking beans. This new formulation of Blazer gives postemerge control of various broadleaves.
Expected to receive EPA registration by the 2000 season is Conclude Xact, also from BASF. Mostly a Southern product, it's especially good on morningglories and johnsongrass, says Kupatt. "It will fit exactly on those acres," he adds. The new formulation carries a double dose of sethoxydim, the active ingredient in Poast. It will provide good postemergent, perennial grass control.
Two new glyphosate products from American Cyanamid include Extreme, for use over the top of Roundup Ready soybeans, and Backdraft, for use as a no-till burndown in Southern regions.
Extreme is a premix of Pursuit, a residual herbicide, and glyphosate.
Many growers currently delay in-crop applications of Roundup in order to get by with a single post application, says George Fennell, corn-soybean business manager. "By combining glyphosate with Pursuit, Extreme provides growers the best opportunity to make a single post application and they can make it earlier."
Backdraft is the first and only soybean herbicide premix to combine the burndown activity of glyphosate with residual control, Fennell says. It will be targeted at no-till acres in the southern Corn Belt and Midsouth, to be used in a sequential program with Roundup post-applied in Roundup Ready soybeans.
Monsanto's newest addition to the Roundup lineup is Roundup UltraMax, which makes use of the TranSorb technology that enhances plant uptake, translocation and rainfastness, says Dean Hendrickson, Roundup brand manager.
"Since Roundup UltraMax contains 25% more active ingredient than Roundup Ultra, growers can spray more acres from every container," he adds.
Glyphomax and Glyphomax Plus, from Dow, both contain glyphosate. Glyphomax Plus, however, also carries a surfactant for over-the-top use in Roundup Ready fields. Glyphomax can be applied either preplant or pre-emerge as a burndown.
Cheminova's Glyfos X-tra is another glyphosate product that controls most broadleaves and grasses. Glyfos X-tra has an adjuvant that's not found in Glyfos, its sister product.
Debit TMF, from NuFarm, is another glyphosate product for preplant burndown and post control of a broad spectrum of grasses and broadleaves.