Published on 01/07/2020
"Getting the best out of winter grazing land has always been important, but these days few farmers can afford to sow a crop that doesn’t grow to its potential. It’s just not efficient with the way things are going in terms of environmental protection and animal wellness.”
That’s the advice from one of New Zealand’s largest crop protection suppliers as farmers and growers eye up their spring sowing rotations for 2020. As regulations and oversight around cultivatable land areas and grazing management become more stringent for winter crops, Glen Surgenor, marketing manager for Corteva Agriscience, says there’s increasing focus on optimising crop performance, from day one.
Case in point? Post-emergence weed control for forage brassicas. Weed competition can have a massive detrimental effect on brassica yield from very early in the growing season. Broadleaf herbicides from Corteva Agriscience – including Milestone, Korvetto and Radiate – have already made their mark as reliable solutions in this category, Surgenor says.
Milestone is the newest, approved for use in NZ last November and replacing T-Max. Milestone contains two active ingredients – aminopyralid at 60 grams per litre and clopyralid at 276 grams per litre. Both are well recognised and widely used, and there is no other formulation of this type registered for use in forage brassicas in NZ. In fact, the label is a world first – the formulation is sold overseas, but in no other country is it used for forage brassicas.
“For farmers, the biggest benefit compared with T-Max is crop safety,” Surgenor explains. “This was a key focus for our R&D team. In developing this new formulation, we’ve been able to safen the product, which is fantastic. T-Max has a strong following, and works well, but it’s been known to cup crops and cause a growth check which can look pretty severe in the early stages of establishment. Crops will grow through this, however, we didn’t want any potential users to get put off. Milestone has some very significant advantages in that respect.” The combination of two of the most effective thistle actives,aminopyralid and clopyralid, ensures Milestone’s provides exceptional control of thistles,and its labelled weed spectrum includes wireweed and plantain along with all other weeds from the T-Max label.
Korvetto, meantime, continues to find favour for its unique package of benefits. Launched in spring 2018, it combines fast plantback with best-in-class control for hard to kill weeds, like shepherd’s purse, plus superb crop safety. “The short plantback is really a standout feature. Korvetto is the most flexible post emergence herbicide for brassicas, with a three month plantback for clover and six month plantback for fodder beet,” Surgenor says.“That gives farmers much more freedom when planning subsequent crop rotations to get the best out of their land. Some other herbicide options have plantbacks of up to 12-24 months,which can be quite limiting.” Plantback periods for maize, cereal, ryegrass and forage brassicas are nil; vegetables and legumes other than clover are six months.
Korvetto combines Corteva Agriscience’s new active Arylex(Group O3) with the trusted chemistry of clopyralid (GroupO4), Glen says. This is the only formula of its type for the forage brassica herbicide market. As well as controlling key forage brassica weeds like fathen,nightshades and Californian thistles, at 1 litre per ha Korvetto provides best-in-class control of shepherd’s purse and fumitory. Crop safety is excellent for leafy and bulb turnips, kale, forage rape and swedes. Handling benefits include an in-built methylated seed oil (MSO) adjuvant, so there’s no need for farmers or contractors to add a surfactant to the mix. The NeoEC formulation contains no petroleum distillates, is low odour to minimise potential negative perceptions when applying and has an improved toxological profile, Glen adds. It’s safe to use following trifluralin pre-emergence herbicides, and should be applied to actively growing brassica crops when plants have reached the three to four leaf stage.
Radiate is older chemistry, with a narrower weed spectrum, but continues to fill a useful role as a low-cost herbicide option when customers need to get rid of fathen in their brassica crops.
For more details, contact your Corteva Agriscience territory sales manager