Contractors and machinery manufacturers are responding to the move in the market towards Avadex Excel 15G (tri-allate) as part of a weed control programme and are making the necessary investments to satisfy this demand.
Contractor Richard Lapage of R&H Contract Services, based in Framlingham, says there is a huge demand for this herbicide this year from both growers and agronomists. “Not just for black-grass but also for wild-oats and other grass-weeds. I have repeat customers who say they have hundreds, not tens, of hectares to control this year. For the first time this spring we were also asked to apply Avadex Granules to spring barley and sugar beet,” he continued.
In response to high grower demand, Richard Lapage and his business partner Jonathan Tunmore have invested over £50,000 in a Mercedes Benz Forward Control Unimog with 32 metre aluminium Pommier booms, which has two Horstine Twin Air positive displacement applicators mounted on it. “This is a bespoke piece of kit. But as this herbicide needs to be applied soon after drilling, the small window of opportunity requires a system that can cover the ground quickly, but still apply granules accurately. It has a maximum 32 metre width, but we will fit in with tramlines at 30, 24, 18 and 12 metres. The applicators apply the Avadex Granules accurately as it has 32 outlets at one metre spacings, each fed by its own individual metering rotor.”
Richard and Jonathan hope to apply 5000 hectares of Avadex Granules this autumn, which is well up on previous years. “Our contracting services cover Suffolk, Norfolk, Essex and Cambridgeshire. With the new kit we will be able to treat more hectares and be certain of accurate application.”
Joe Allen of Horstine Farmery liaised with R&H Contract Services to create the exact system to suit his business and customers’ needs. “Busy contractors such as R&H Contract Services want larger machines that can cover more ground more quickly.”
“We are also supplying many more smaller, light weight systems, the TMA4, to growers who want to apply Avadex Granules themselves. In fact we planned to build 20 applicators and nearly half of them were sold before we even advertised the product! Certainly the demand for this herbicide and hence applicators and contracting services is very much higher this year,” says Joe
He explains that, as the Avadex is applied after drilling, you need an applicator that can tread lightly so you can get onto the land when required. “The TMA4 has this light foot print. Growers like the accuracy of this applicator – it offers individual metering to each distribution outlet for guaranteed accurate application across the full 12 metre width. Metering is controlled using an automatic rate controller, whilst the fan is hydraulically powered rather than PTO driven. It also can shut off at the headlands to avoid over- lapping extra product. When applying Avadex you don’t want to overdose or under dose, with black-grass being such a difficult and competitive weed.”
Dr. Dominic Lamb of Gowan reports that there is already an unprecedented high demand for the use of the residual herbicide Avadex this autumn. “Many more growers want to use it as the essential starting point of their herbicide programme. This is because it fulfils a key role in the control of difficult-to-control grass-weeds such as black-grass, annual meadow-grass and wild-oats as well as some common broad-leaved weeds including cleavers, charlock, chickweed, mayweeds and poppy.”
“In the last couple of years many farmers have used a contractor or have invested in their own applicators to apply Avadex Granules, as they are keen to integrate this valuable active ingredient into their weed control programme in winter and spring crops,” he says.
Dominic says that Avadex is an essential part of any weed control programme and is best positioned as the starter herbicide. “Applied pre-emergence at a dose rate of 15 kgs/ha to well-prepared moist seedbeds, Avadex de-waxes and sensitises black-grass and other weeds, boosting the overall efficacy of the herbicide programme. It can then be followed by a flufenacet-containing herbicide such as Crystal (flufenacet + pendimethalin). Tri-allate is known to work in a different way to most other cereal graminicides and is once again finding a key position in many weed control programmes, its robust performance proven with over 50 years of use in the UK.”
Avadex Excel 15G contains 15% w/w tri-allate, formulated as a granule. It is recommended on winter wheat, winter barley, durum wheat, triticale, winter rye, winter field beans, spring barley, peas, spring field beans, forage legumes, sugar beet, fodder beet, mangel and red beet. It controls wild-oats, volunteer (tame) oats and moderate populations of Italian rye-grass, annual meadow-grass and black-grass. Applied pre-emergence of weeds, useful control of annual broad-leaved weeds including cleavers, charlock, chickweed, common poppy, field pansy, field speedwell, forget-me-not, fumitory, ivy leaved speedwell, mayweed spp and red dead-nettle is obtained. It is applied at a dose rate of 15 kg per ha, with one application per crop. It is packed in a 1-ha pack (15 kg).
R&H Contract Services can be contacted on 07534 948361 for Richard Lapage and 07919 104298 Jonathan Tunmore or by Email info@rhcontractservices.co.uk
