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MFA applicators focus on early dicamba application

Missouri-based MFA cooperative is stressing caution to its applicators when it comes to over-the-top use of newer dicamba herbicides this growing season. Jason Weirich, MFA director of agronomy, tells Brownfield Ag News it’s important to remember that dicamba is not a silver bullet and is best used in the early growing season, “We’re really focused on using these tools in a burndown situation and then still utilizing overlapping residuals to carry our weed control home. So, putting out a residual herbicide and then coming back 24 to 30 days later with a second shot of residual and try not to even use the technology over the top is really what we focused on (in stewardship training).”

He says spraying later can actually set growers up for more problems, “It’s not going to bring down those two-or-three-foot-tall weeds and if it does, it’s just an early pathway to resistance.”

Weirich says MFA wants to avoid off-target movement into reproductive soybeans, “If I’m going to have movement, I’d rather have that on vegetative soybeans instead of reproductive soybeans. Because if I hit reproductive soybeans it’s not a matter of if I did yield loss, it’s how much did I cause that yield loss.”

He says MFA is planting sentinel plots in each region and basing application on the average maturity group and average planting window to determine when it’s best to spray, even if state labels allow for later spraying. In southeast Missouri, the state cut-off date for dicamba application has been extended to June 10th {from June 1st} and the deadline is June 15th for the rest of Missouri.

Audio: Interview with Jason Weirich~

 

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