“Green Light” for the Start of Late Cereal Crops

What do sunflowers, corn, and soybeans have in common? First and foremost, they experience prolonged herbicidal critical periods during which they cannot compete with weed vegetation. As a result, there is a necessity to apply soil herbicides to eliminate unwanted competitors for the crops in the early growth phases and ensure an unobstructed start.

This is reported by AgroReview

“Weeds are a dangerous neighbor for sunflowers, corn, and soybeans during the initial stages of vegetation,” notes Alexander Milovets, head of the agronomy department at Ukravit. “During this period, amid the changing weather conditions of spring, the crops develop quite slowly and therefore cannot fully compete for space, moisture, and nutrients with well-adapted weed vegetation. Once the crops shade the inter-row spaces, the situation will change; however, until then, the farmer’s task is to protect young plants from competition by choosing the right comprehensive base product. When applied before the crops emerge, soil herbicides act proactively, giving future plantings a “green light” for growth and development. They control existing annual weeds in the field and prevent the emergence of subsequent waves of their growth. Indirectly, this measure helps regulate the population of pests and pathogens, for which weed vegetation can serve as a reservoir.”

To simultaneously control annual grassy and broadleaf weed species in sunflower, corn, soybean, as well as sorghum and potatoes, Alexander recommends choosing the two-component herbicide Varyag (metolachlor, 315 g/l + terbutryn, 190 g/l). Metolachlor in its composition belongs to the inhibitors of long-chain fatty acids. It does not move significantly within the plant. The main site of absorption and action in grassy weeds is the sprouts, while in broadleaf weeds, it is the root system. The active substance is absorbed from the upper layer of the soil by young sprouts and roots, causing weed death and preventing the emergence of their growth. Terbutryn is absorbed by both leaves and roots and blocks the transport of electrons involved in the photosynthesis process, resulting in the death of unwanted vegetation.

Varyag effectively controls ragweed, pigweed, catchweed bedstraw, field mustard, black nightshade, lamb’s quarters, field bindweed, mouse barley (species), chicken millet, and other weeds, and prevents the emergence of subsequent waves of their growth. It has a wide “technological window” for application – before, during, or after the sowing of crops, but before the emergence of the cultivated plants. It can also be applied to corn and sorghum up to the 5-leaf stage of the crop. Moreover, it shows no phytotoxicity to the crops and completely decomposes in the soil, removing restrictions on the rotation of subsequent crops in the crop rotation.