Several new products have been introduced for 2015 by Valent U.S.A. They focus on crop protection and reducing the inputs in production agriculture. One of those is RyzUp SmartGrass, a plant growth regulator.
Dawn Refsell with Valent explains that “we can use that on corn, silage corn, field corn, and also we have a lot of cover crop acres coming into the Midwest now that have been established. We can apply it onto the cereal rye. There’s been a peak in cover crop interest and Ryzup is applied at spring green up to help increase the foliage. It’s affecting the stem elongation; you’re going to have larger plants. The plant naturally has a low level of gibberellin when it comes out of winter, and so what we’re doing by applying RyzUp SmartGrass is giving that rye grass a head start and a quicker start coming out of the winter.”
The company says users will get a boost in corn yields from the early season growth and stronger, more stress-tolerant plants, as much as 8 bushels per acre.
Refsell told HAT there are also two new products for soybeans to protect the seed and fight weeds.
“One is the Intego Suite System seed treatment and that has the first new mode of action for Pythium and Phytophthora control in over 30 years. We also have Fierce XLT herbicide which is going to be very popular throughout Indiana. Fierce is still available this year as is Fierce XLT. One way to distinguish the two is if you have a large seeded broadleaf problem, for example giant ragweed or common ragweed, we’re going to push you toward that Fierce XLT. If waterhemp is your primary problem or palmer amaranth, then you’re going to sway more towards Fierce.”
Both Fierce and Fierce XLT are expected to provide 6 to 8 weeks of residual control, depending on weather conditions.