CropTalk
Volume 21 | Issue 2
What’s new with Bayer CropScience products
New Varro provides freedom in the battle against wild oats F
ighting wild oats can be tough. They appear all across Western Canada, they are highly competitive, have significant resistant populations and in their early stages they look like the cereal crops they are invading. When battling wild oats, growers need products that are effective, that mix well with their chosen broadleaf herbicide and that don’t restrict their crop rotation in the next growing season. New VarroTM herbicide from Bayer CropScience, introduced for the 2012 growing season, allows that flexibility. It’s an effective tool against wild oats, including Group 1-resistant wild oats, has virtually no re-cropping restrictions and is very tank mix friendly. Wild oats can reduce yield dramatically. According to the Canadian Certified Crop Advisor Association, as little as one wild oat plant per square foot can reduce wheat yield by 12 percent. Wild oats are also a management issue that can affect the cereal growers bottom line. “Group 1 resistance is a real concern for growers and Varro offers a Group 2 weed control solution that performs without the restrictions that are typically associated with a Group 2,” says Lauren Davis, Cereal Grass Herbicide Manager at Bayer CropScience. “In addition to wild oats and Group 1-resistant wild oats, Varro provides strong activity on other problem grassy weeds such as green and yellow foxtail, barnyard grass, volunteer canary seed, Persian darnel and Japanese brome. And although we recommend Varro to be tank-mixed with broadleaf products like Buctril M or Thumper, it does bring activity on select problem broadleaf weeds in cereals such as cleavers, hemp-nettle and volunteer canola.”
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Varro has no re-cropping restrictions with pulse crops, which is a benefit to all growers, but especially those in the brown soil zones. Varro gives growers the confidence that they can safely plant a wide variety of pulse crops including lentils, field peas, chickpeas, soybeans and dry beans the year following an application of Varro. Varro’s flexible tank-mix options allow growers the ability to fine-tune their weed control to their specific field’s needs. It can be mixed with many of the top broadleaf products and has excellent crop safety. “Varro is a product that we launched in direct response to what growers have told us about gaps in their wheat herbicide choices as they try to manage resistance concerns,” says Davis. “We plan to continue to look for new innovations that address changing growing conditions and weed profiles, to best suit what our customers want and what they need to succeed.” CT
New VARRO herbicide from Bayer CropScience provides freedom from wild oats (including Group 1 herbicide resistant ones), freedom to select your preferred broadleaf tank-mix partner and freedom to re-crop.
A Newsletter from Bayer cropscience
What’s the best herbicide for your cereal crop? C
hoosing the best cereal herbicide is a multi-step process. Growers take into account a number of factors that help decide what product, or combination of products, will result in the cleanest crop and still make economic sense. Factoring in the weather, specific weed pressures, resistance problems, crop staging, window of application, tank-mixability, crop safety, re-cropping intentions and cost can be a daunting task. Whether used on their own or in a tank mix, Bayer CropScience is pleased to offer Western Canadian growers a suite of innovative cereal herbicide solutions to meet their specific needs. We’ve put together the following brief outline of our cereal product portfolio to help you decide where they can make the biggest impact to your operation. • Puma® Advance – for grassy weeds. Puma Advance is the only fenoxaprop formulation that delivers superior crop safety and refined wild oat control in wheat and barley. Use full label rates for optimal wild oat performance and crop safety.
• Infinity® contains the first new broadleaf mode of action for use in cereals in more than 20 years. It’s dual mode of action provides superior and fast broadleaf weed control all while providing a valuable resistance management tool. It fight’s Western Canada’s toughest broadleaf weeds such as kochia, wild buckwheat and cleavers – including resistant biotypes. • Velocity m3 is your All-In-One solution for both grass and broadleaf weed control. Velocity m3 contains three active ingredients which not only provide powerful broad spectrum grass and broadleaf weed control, but also effective resistance management in spring, durum and winter wheat against Group 1-resistant wild oats, foxtail and resistant broadleaf weeds. • Tundra herbicide is a complete, dead simple weed control solution for wheat and barley growers. Tundra provides strong wild oat control and contains an innovative Group 27 mode of action that provides quick control of broadleaf weeds, including resistant biotypes. Convenient and easy to use, Tundra is now available in a bulk 160 acre shuttle and a 500 acre tote. TM
• New Varro herbicide gives wheat growers freedom from wild oats including Group 1-resistant wild oats, freedom to choose their broadleaf tank-mix partner and freedom that allows crop rotation plans to be flexible. This is good news for all growers, but especially for those who want the flexibility to rotate to crops like lentils, chickpeas and dry beans the following season. • Thumper® provides outstanding control of kochia (including Group 2 or glyphosate resistant kochia), Russian thistle and wild buckwheat in wheat, durum and barley. When tank-mixed with Varro growers can expect even more robust broadleaf weed control. • Buctril® M is the most trusted broadleaf herbicide available to wheat and barley growers. It provides fast-acting control of 29 major broadleaf weeds. It tank-mixes with many products, is easy to use, and can be counted on for consistent performance. When tank-mixed with Varro, growers can expect a boost in their broadleaf control making Buctril M even more consistent. Bayer CropScience is also pleased to provide purchase incentives for our complete line up of cereal herbicide solutions through the BayerValue program. By taking advantage of the program growers could save up to: 20% off Infinity 18% off Velocity m3 and Varro 13% off Tundra 5% off Buctril M, Thumper and Puma Advance Plus, with the Puma Full Rate Rebate, growers can also instantly save $1 per acre. when they purchase Puma from their retailer. See complete programing details at BayerCropScience.ca/BayerValue For more information about cereal herbicides or any other Bayer CropScience products please consult your local retailer or Bayer CropScience representative. CT
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CropTalk
H
erbicide resistance is getting a lot of attention these days. Whether it is an issue in your crop, or just in your area of the country – it’s something that all growers are paying attention to. Herbicide resistant weeds have serious management implications and can significantly impact yield. So how do you avoid herbicide resistant weeds? It helps to mix things up. There are a host of management tools available to keep herbicide resistant weeds out of your field but two tried and true measures are rotating chemical groups within years or from year to year and utilizing herbicide mixtures with differing mode of actions. Tightening of crop rotations has resulted in the application of the same mode of action year over year which equates to significant selection pressure and the potential for the development of herbicide resistant weed species. Today eight out of the top 10 most abundant weeds in Western Canada have become resistant to at least one herbicide group. Over reliance on glyphosate has been implicated in glyphosate resistant kochia which appeared in Southern Alberta for the first time in 2011. While the origin of the glyphosate resistant kochia has yet to be determined what is clear is that over-reliance on glyphosate within a cropping system was the cause. Glyphosate is an important product in Canada and much of the resistance discussion has been aimed at keeping glyphosate resistance at bay. While glyphosate resistance is new to Western Canadian agriculture it is only one of a growing list of resistant weed management issues that producers are being faced with.
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A 2010 survey showed 51 resistant weed species biotypes in Canada. According to Dr. Hugh Beckie with Agriculture and AgriFood Canada, a Manitoba study of 300 fields showed that 58% had some sort of herbicide resistant weed. In particular, Group 1-resistant wild oats were seen in 55% of the fields and green foxtail in 44% of the fields surveyed. These issues, if not managed properly can have significant impact on yields going forward. While crop rotation and more specifically the chemical groups that are available for use within these rotations crops is important in minimizing the spread and development of resistant weeds, Beckie recommends herbicide mixtures as the first and best line of defense. In fact recent research has shown that mixtures of chemistries can be more effective than crop rotations in delaying herbicide resistance. With a limited selection of chemical groups available it is important that the mixing partner have a different mode of action. Beckie also says resistance management can come in the form of cultural practices such as rotating in competitive hybrid canola or perennial forages, higher cereal crop seeding rates and optimizing fertilizer placement to help create a competitive crop. Other tools include tillage, pre and post burndown and keeping farm equipment clean. Herbicide resistance is a management issue, an economic issue and an environmental issue and it’s in everyone’s best interest to keep resistance out of the fields. To learn more, talk to your Bayer CropScience representative or visit MixItUp.ca. CT Source: Approaching the silver anniversary of weed resistance in Manitoba Published by Dr. Hugh Beckie for the 2011 Manitoba Agronomists Conference
PHOTOs (left) genesis studio; (opposite page) bayer cropscience
Mixing things up to keep resistance at bay
A Newsletter from Bayer cropscience
Fungicides: In Good Times and Bad D
isease pressures have increased dramatically over the past three years no thanks to cool, moist weather during early crop staging and the constant production of disease spores and subsequent spread from field to field. This is reason enough to protect your crop with a fungicide application, but if you’re crop looks great – do you still need to apply a fungicide? Definitely. Using a fungicide when your crop looks good not only increases yield, it also protects the grade and quality of your crop – which can be even more important to your bottom line. “I’ve done 10 years of consecutive fungicide test blocks and I’ve never had one that’s gone the other way, I’ve always gained something from my application. Honestly, we don’t walk a lot of fields anymore. After ten years of being proven, we just spray. Bayer has been leading in canola seeds for years, producing some of the top herbicides and I think they’re pretty much on top for disease control too.” Farron Stricker, Grower, Yorkton, Saskatchewan To see how Bayer CropScience fungicides have performed in your area visit our Fungicide DST Results Map at BayerCropScience.ca/ItPaysToSpray
Even More Savings In addition to the valuable savings you can receive from Early Book InVigor®, BayerValue and the Cereal Winter Sale programs, Bayer CropScience is pleased to announce two additional offers to help Western Canadian growers save even more.
Puma Full Rate Rebate Use Puma to its full potential and instantly save $1.00 per acre at your retailer.
Start Strong With Savings Get your crop off to the best start possible with maximum disease and insect protection of Raxil® WW. Save an additional $1.00 per acre on Raxil WW seed treatment with matching acres of either Folicur® or Prosaro®. CT Ask your local retailer or Bayer CropScience representative for complete offer details
Always read and follow label directions. Buctril®, Folicur®, Infinity®, InVigor®, Prosaro®, Puma®, Raxil®, Thumper®, TundraTM and VarroTM are trademarks of Bayer. Bayer CropScience is a member of CropLife Canada.
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