Concern about loss of active ingredients in beans and peas

Andrew Lensen, Farm Manager for Velcourt, continues to be concerned about the loss of active ingredients for use in peas and beans and has had to adopt alternative approaches to weed control as a result.

Andrew points out that pulse growers have lost a range of pulse herbicides in the last few years and is worried that with the impending EU review of pesticides this worrying trend could well continue. "We used to use Opogard (terbutryn + terbuthylazine) in our pulse crops, but when this went along with quite a few other herbicides containing the active ingredients including cyanazine, fomesafen, simazine, terbutryn and now trifluralin, we have been relying on the pre-emergence herbicide Nirvana for weed control in spring beans and vining peas."

Growing 200 hectares of spring beans mainly for human consumption for Askew & Barrett and 110 hectares of vining peas for Premier Foods, Mr. Lensen manages 600 hectares of land for J. Goodley and Sons, contract farms a further 1700 hectares in five units and provides agronomy for all the land under his remit. "At Velcourt we aim to provide the highest level of farm management expertise and to focus on farming profitably. We also want to provide excellent technical advice and are continually assessing options to provide the best solutions for our farmer clients."

"With the lack of choice we had for beans and peas, it was opportune that Nirvana came along. Based on two residual herbicides imazamox and pendimethalin, it has become our mainstay treatment for both vining peas and spring field beans."

According to Andrew, Nirvana covers all the key weed problems including volunteer rape and polygonums and has some useful effect on suppressing black-grass. "Thank goodness it came when it did. We would have been in a difficult situation otherwise."

Andrew Lensen points out that this year could be a challenge for many pulse growers. "It will certainly be a late year for drilling peas and beans. Last year we started vining pea and spring bean drilling around the 20th February, but this year even on our lightest soils it will be well into March before we can get started. But we can use this imposed delay to our advantage by spraying off volunteer cereals, black-grass and some broad-leaved weeds with glyphosate pre-drilling. Along with many farms we have three star resistant black-grass and we are looking for ways of managing this difficult weed. One way was to move from winter beans to spring beans. This allowed us to use pre-drilling glyphosate to control the black-grass."

Luckily despite the autumn he has managed to prepare most of his land well in preparation for spring crops, essential particularly for vining peas. "Particularly with peas, it is important that soil structure is well maintained, so we make sure that any risk of compaction is minimised. We now have a good footing for our spring crops this year. But I would say that patience is the watchword this year- don’t try to drill if the seedbeds and soil aren’t ready."

"Once the crops are in using the Vaderstad drill, we are looking for a one shot approach to weed control, which Nirvana provides. In beans we use 3-3.5 l/ha of Nirvana on its own and in vining peas it is applied at 2-2.5 l/ha. It does a very good job on all the weeds and is perfectly safe to the crop."

He points out that being the one shot solution to weed control, Nirvana will come into its own as it minimizes the amount of times required to travel through the crop. "This season will undoubtedly be contracted and we will be very busy with cereal spraying, sugar beet drilling and other activities around the farm. Just one application will optimize our workload, which will be essential this spring."

Andrew is however concerned about keeping as many products as possible for peas, beans and onions, which he also grows. He concludes, "We need to keep lobbying hard for maintaining the actives that we have. In beans Basagran SG is now the only post-emergence option we have".