Residual herbicides – an insurance policy for your GT soys

It only costs two or three per cent of your returns from the crop and is cheap at the price

by PAT LYNCH

There is one main reason why you should use a residual herbicide in glyphosate-tolerant soybeans. It acts as insurance. When you use a soil-residual herbicide, you are buying insurance that you will be able to spray glyphosate later if needed.

There are problems with spraying glyphosate in glyphosate-tolerant soys. The main one is Ontario’s weather. Often, weather conditions do not allow you to spray when you should. If it is too windy, you risk the glyphosate being blown off its target. If this has happened to you, you know the consequences are more calamitous than when we used to have off-target movement of hormone herbicides.

Better Farming - March 2012