New Weed-Management Systems Are on the Way From Syngenta

There's help down the road if you're wrestling with herbicide-resistant weeds like Palmer amaranth.

At its media summit held this week in Cary, North Carolina, Syngenta officials discussed a new chemical class in the works that it plans to launch in North America in 2022. The herbicide is aimed at preemergence control of dicots (broadleaves) and partial control of grasses in corn. It will complement Syngenta's mesotrione (Callisto), s-metolachlor (Dual Magnum), and bicyclopyrone (an active ingredient in Acuron). Accompanying this is a tolerant trait now called project Gemini.

Syngenta officials say this system especially has excellent activity on pigweed species (waterhemp, Palmer amaranth) that currently resists several current herbicide sites of action.
In soybeans, Syngenta is codeveloping a herbicide trait system with Bayer CropScience now called 0H2-Soy. It targets preemergence control of dicots (broadleaves) through preemergence mesotrione (Callisto) premixes.

These aren't set to debut anytime soon. In the meantime, though, here are a couple things you can do to help better manage weeds.

• Don't cut rates. Amounts of active ingredients in new herbicide mixes are already small. In the case of bicylopryrone (one of the four active ingredients in Syngenta's Acuron herbicide), the active ingredient rate per acre is already less than 2 ounces per acre. Cutting Acuron rates in corn is a recipe for poor weed control, says Jeff Cecil, Syngenta head of project management. "The good news about this product (Acuron) is, if you use it at labeled rates, you can get by with one pass," he says. "But when you cut rates, you will not get that one-pass control."
• Spray weeds at the height listed on the label. Granted, you probably aren't going to get out of your sprayer with a tape measure every time you enter a field. One good rule of thumb, though, is the pop can rule, says Cecil. If weeds are smaller than a pop can when they are sprayed, good control is more likely to occur than if they are taller than a pop can.