Check labels on tank-mix partners

Wet soils in many parts of the country have held up winter wheat weed control on arable farms, particularly post-emergence black-grass products. Now, a wide range of tank-mix recommendations from Dow AgroSciences will help growers get back on track.

A tank mix of Dow AgroSciences' Starane XL (fluroxypyr and florasulam) with Atlantis has been approved by PSD. This will take care of cleavers and blackgrass, the two most important weeds in winter wheat.

And it should give growers some breathing space and flexibility to start their fungicide and growth regulator programmes.

"We realise that there will be a big rush to catch up on outstanding treatments," says David Roberts of Dow AgroSciences. "Timeliness is crucial to make the most of inputs. But growers and advisors need to be clear on the label recommendations."

Dow AgroSciences expect a very large area of wheat crops to be treated with Starane XL, due to its flexibility and broad-leaved weed spectrum. But the company is keen to clarify its position on sequences and tank mixes following some confusion within the industry.

"Only one other product with an ALS-inhibitor mode of action can be applied to a cereal crop which has been treated with Starane XL," explains Mr Roberts. "And when Starane XL is applied in sequence or tank mix with other ALS-inhibitor products there are no additional following crop restrictions or cultivation requirements over and above those stipulated on either product label."

Mr Roberts advises that when using tank-mixes or sequences growers should follow the most limited label.

Winter cereals, winter oilseed rape, winter beans, grass, and vegetable brassicas as transplants can be planted in the same year (autumn) as a crop treated with Starane XL is harvested.

The only crops approved to be sown in the year of treatment with Atlantis are winter wheat and winter barley. And it is this label that Dow AgroSciences recommends growers must follow as it is the most limiting.