There have been several label and product changes made in corn herbicides this year. Here are a few highlights we picked up on a few weeks ago at the Commodity Classic in Tampa, Florida.

* Realm Q, a postemergence corn herbicide from DuPont, was federally approved last December. Realm Q contains mesotrione (the active ingredient in Callisto), rimsufuron (a sulfonylurea compound in a number of herbicide products), and a safener.

 “Realm Q can be used across wider weather environments with the high level of crop safety farmers have come to expect for their corn and soybeans,” says Jeff Carpenter, U.S. corn portfolio manager for DuPont.

Realm Q, which controls both broadleaves and grasses, has both contact and residual qualities. It can be mixed with glyphosate and be applied between V3 and V4, and control weeds into canopy.

“Its residual capacity separates it from applying just glyphosate alone,” says Carpenter. It also can control weeds like waterhemp, lambsquarters, and ragweed that contain biotypes resistant to glyphosate.

Realm Q will be available in limited quantities in 2011 in western and northern areas. It will be available in larger quantities in 2012, he says. Cost for Realm Q hovers between $17 to $19 per acre, says Carpenter.  

* Prequel, a DuPont product federally approved in late 2009 for the 2010-growing season, is expanded in quantity and region for this year.  

Prequel is a preemergence burndown and residual product containing both rimsulfuron and isoxoaflutole, an HPPD inhibitor that’s the active ingredient in Balance Flexx. It controls winter annuals, early 
spring grasses, and broadleaves.