Features Desiccants Seed & Chemical
New co-pack targets perennials – fast

Provides advantage over glyphosate.

Test plots with dandelion (bottom) and chickweed (top) were usually showing brown tissue within four or five days using CleanStart Plus.

Speed, efficacy and no crop rotation restrictions are some of the advantages being touted by Nufarm, and the registration of CleanStart Plus. Billed as a pre-plant burndown for all crops and a desiccant for edible beans, the formulations include Credit Plus, Nufarm’s brand of glyphosate, and carfentrazone, a Group 14 herbicide registered separately as Aim. Currently being promoted as a co-pack, the company received full registration for pre-plant burndown and is hoping for a September 2008 registration as a tank-mix to boost grower options for fall dessication.

Although it was tested in a number of fields in the spring of 2007, Blair Bossuyt, eastern sales manager for Nufarm, concedes the chemistry’s late registration presented a challenge for those interested in seeing its performance. “First, we didn’t have much opportunity to train retailers and growers, and second, there wasn’t a lot of research done in Ontario,” explains Bossuyt. Nufarm personnel did their own field testing of the product in 2007, and found it performed well when considering economics, weed spectrum and efficacy. “With this product, we gained five to seven days of efficacy and the control of weeds versus glyphosate alone, particularly on perennial weeds. On some weeds like chickweed, we’re usually seeing brown dead tissue within four or five days.”

The other major benefit Bossuyt cites is the advantage of having no crop
rotation restrictions: growers can spray one day and plant the next.

Jim Hodgins, a certified crop advisor and technical representative for Nufarm, adds that from a grower perspective, the speed component with CleanStart Plus is a visible advantage. “Within 24 hours, they were seeing some activity,” says Hodgins, referring to growers who were visiting the test sites. “From the grower’s perspective, the quicker he sees visible results after application, in his mind, is best.”

Hodgins believes the resistance management with CleanStart Plus is also a factor with growers, particularly in the case of using glyphosate alone.

Spring and fall uses add diversity
Of course, the economics component can play a major role in the decision to use CleanStart Plus. According to Bossuyt, that is another powerful inducement, especially at a time when many growers are trying to justify the cost of inputs and chemical applications. “It’s priced close to the equivalent of a litre and a half of glyphosate, and we know that most of the burndown market is between that and two litres, given the perennial weed spectrum we have today,” says Bossuyt.

The road ahead for Nufarm includes several product launch meetings during early spring, where they can emphasize several factors that growers and retailers should keep in mind.

Key among those are proper water volumes, pressures and rates. “We saw that more on the desiccant side because it was a longer period in 2007,” says Hodgins. “We started applying around August 20 and went through to about October 15, and in that period of time, we were looking at rates and water volumes, pressures and nozzle types. We realized that it came down to using more water, more pressure and probably flat fans provided our best results.”

Many of their findings in the field were confirmed with research done in western Canada, where it is reg-istered for a different formulation of glyphosate and lower rates of carfentrazone.