Scottish farmer Willie Wilson from Kirkintilloch, near Glasgow, tried a new approach to weed control in his spring beans last year and was so pleased with the result that he is repeating the same approach this year.
Advised by Peter Gray of WN Lindsay, Mr. Wilson is contracted to farm over 1000 acres of arable land on the North side of Glasgow. Last year he grew Fuego spring beans for the specialist animal feed market and intends to increase the area that he grows this spring. His spring bean yields are very good, with an average of 2.25 t/acre (5.6 t/ha).
"Most of the land under Willie Wilson’s control is medium loam soil, with a low clay fraction, but we have found that growing beans with their strong root system has helped to improve the soil structure and allowed us to travel more easily. This spring we are waiting a little longer than normal for the ground to dry out before we can drill, but once in the field we will focus on early weed control," says Peter Gray.
Peter explains that in the past he had advised use of Opogard (terbutryn + terbuthylazine) for weed control in pulse crops, but its performance was variable. "Opogard is now unavailable along with a few others containing active ingredients such as cyanazine, fomesafen, simazine, terbutryn and trifluralin. Consequently, last year we tried Nirvana for the first time and it worked very well indeed. Containing two residual herbicides imazamox and pendimethalin and applied pre-emergence, it has become our mainstay treatment for weed control in spring field beans, in mix with Cirrus (clomazone) and the soil adjuvant Grounded."
According to Peter, Nirvana covers all the key weed problems in beans. "As far as weeds are concerned, you name it, we have it. But the most difficult culprits are polygonums, field pansy, nettles of all descriptions and Annual Meadow-grass."
"We are looking for an all-in-one approach to weed control, which Nirvana provides. We advise a tank-mix of 2.5 l/ha of Nirvana plus 0.25 l/ha of clomazone with 0.4 l/ha of Grounded. This does an excellent job on all the weeds and is safe to the crop."
Stuart Sutherland, Agronomy Manager for BASF in Scotland points out that Nirvana controls the most important weeds in spring beans, including Black-bindweed, Charlock, Common Chickweed, Common Poppy, Fat-hen, Fumitory, Henbit Dead-nettle, Knotgrass, Orache, Red Dead-nettle, Redshank, Speedwells, and Scarlet Pimpernel. "Imazamox enhances the control of several key weeds, such as Charlock and Black-bindweed, compared with equivalent rates of straight pendimethalin."
He also points out that bean growers have lost a number of herbicides recently. "Simazine, Reflex T (terbutryn + fomesafen), Opogard/Battalion (terbutryn + terbuthylazine), Fortrol (cyanazine) and Bullet (cyanazine + pendimethalin) have all been revoked and in March 2009 we will be losing herbicides that include trifluralin. For this reason Nirvana is a useful replacement product that has the potential to fill some of the gaps arising from revocation and loss of active ingredients in this sector, whilst providing the high level of weed control that growers want."
Background Notes – Nirvana contains 16.7 g/l of imazamox and 250 g/l of pendimethalin, formulated as an emulsifiable concentrate, packed in 10 litre containers. It is recommended in spring field beans, winter field beans, combining peas and vining peas for the control of broad-leaved weeds including Black-bindweed, Charlock, Common chickweed, Common Field Speedwell, Common Fumitory, Common Poppy, Fat-hen, Henbit Dead-nettle, Ivy-leaved Speedwell, Knotgrass, Orache, Red Dead-nettle, Redshank and Scarlet Pimpernel. Nirvana is applied pre-emergence of the crop at a dose rate between 2.5 – 4.5 l/ha in 200 – 300 litres of water per hectare, with the dose rate depending on the crop, weed pressure, weed spectrum and length of persistence required.
For further comment and information please contact:
1) Jonathan Ball, BASF on 0161 488 5785 or mobile 0771 7782768
2) Stuart Sutherland, BASF on 07831 436676
