Retailers Agree, TIME Is Of The Essence in the Fight Against Resistant Weeds

PYRIDATE “A PRODUCT WHO’S TIME HAS COME”

Tom Wood, President and General Manager explains, “There was no coincidence that Belchim USA brought pryidate (TOUGH^® 5EC), a post emergent broadleaf, contact herbicide, to the corn market as the concern of resistance to commonly used herbicides spread throughout the corn belt. Growers are looking for alternate chemistries to help them fight tough to kill weeds such as waterhemp, palmer, and kochia.” Wood continues; “Adding TOUGH 5EC to the mix consistently improves control of weeds and can help growers in their efforts to have cleaner fields today and reduce the weed seed bank!”

As weed resistance was accelerating to many herbicides such as HPPD’s, along with many others, field testing with TOUGH 5EC combinations at universities began across the corn belt. University testing of TOUGH 5EC, with different GROUP 27 actives continues today.  Figure 1 shows results of different actives in combination at Purdue University in 2020.

Chris Weed, Adjuvant Manager, Kova Fertilizer included TOUGH 5EC in two of his 2020 field trials. A panelist in a 2020 discussion about TOUGH 5EC, Chris stated; “When I look at three products together – Callisto, Aatrex and TOUGH – and almost 30 days later you’re seeing 98% control, that’s outstanding.  I’m not only thinking about corn, I’m also thinking about the soybean crop that will probably follow this corn.  The better weed control I have in corn, the more benefit I’m going to see in the following crop the next year.” TOUGH 5EC was EPA approved in fall of 2020 and was used by growers in the 2021 season.

Dennis Long, National Technical Service & Development Manager for Belchim Crop Protection USA adds; “We’re not looking to replace products currently in the tank, but we’re trying to provide a different mode of action with a different site of action to prevent the selection for resistance and prevent seeds from going into the seed bank.”

Recently, Belchim USA heard (in a forum executed by Beck Ag) from several retailers in the corn belt who used TOUGH 5EC in the 2021 season.  Retailers echoed the statements of Tom Wood and agree that TOUGH 5EC is a great product to have “in the barn.”   They like the safe, effective, option that TOUGH 5EC offers them as they continue to battle weed resistance.  One of the retailers, Chad Barnes of Illinis FS, Ogden Illinois stated, “At least four of the five fields that we tried TOUGH on were some of the worst– just covered in waterhemp.  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.”

TIMING OF APPLICATION

University specialist, weed scientists, agronomist and growers can all agree that the timing of your   herbicide application is critical to the amount of control you achieve.  Retailer participants all stressed the importance of applying TOUGH 5EC (or any herbicide) when the weeds are small. Delayne Bohac McGowen Crop Protection, of Beaver Crossing Nebraska shared “We were looking for another option and when we tank mixed TOUGH and the guy sprayed on time and early, it worked really well.” Application timing is especially important in times of drought conditions, as drought stress can impact the efficacy of herbicides due to physical changes that can occur to the plant, leaf surface, and even spray droplet behavior. Under drought & heat stress conditions, they noted the importance of treating them when they are less than 4 inches. They were able to control larger weeds with TOUGH 5EC earlier in the season or in areas where they did not have extreme conditions. For optimum weed control in corn, Belchim USA recommends applying TOUGH 5EC in your tank mix, when weeds are 3-5 inches tall.  We understand mother nature may not always cooperate, however, and TOUGH 5EC can be applied from emergence, up to the 8 leaf stage of corn.

TIME TO KILL

Pyridate increases free radicals, single oxygen molecules that disrupt cell membranes causing cell collapse.  HPPD’s reduce the plants ability to detoxify naturally occurring free radicals.  Adding TOUGH^® 5EC to HPPD products such as mesotrione (Callisto^®), tolpyralate (SHIELDEX^®) and topramezone (Impact^®), improves performance; promoting faster weed death and overcoming HPPD resistance.  When asked what stood out the most about TOUGH 5EC, Chris Weed replied, “The aspect that impressed me the most was speed of kill.  Some treatments were with glyphosate and some were in combination with mesotrione.  With these products you do not see activity on any weed species very quickly, but at 7 days I could already see activity on waterhemp in both locations.” 
Figure 2 shows a weed that was treated with TOUGH 5EC and an HPPD.  Seven days after application, the weed is near death.  Retailers who worked with TOUGH 5EC in the 2021 season agreed the speed of kill with TOUGH 5EC was impressive.  Growers like to see results when they walk their fields.  Chris Weed noted “I had worked with mesotrione over 20 years.  So, I knew that it was, what I would call slow, as far as how quickly you would see activity.  And this was the case here, certainly in combination with Roundup PowerMax, but with the addition of TOUGH into this mix, you can see this was a very short period of time and you evolve from 60 to 67% control to 95. I’m not easily impressed.  And this was very impressive to me to see this activity this quickly.”

There’s no TIME like the present to add TOUGH 5EC to your post program. Retail participant Lucas Ahrens from McGowen Crop Protection suggested to his peers; “This year, you got to just think outside the box on what you can do and try to be cost effective even though everything’s up already.  I feel that the supply thing’s going to be a disaster come spray season; I if you don’t have it sitting in your warehouse, you’re not going to have it and your sales are going to go down. You better take product in now and sit on it.”  Adding 8 oz of TOUGH 5EC to your tank mix will help you achieve clean fields and allow you to focus your TIME on corn yields.