Valor brings flexibility to summer weed control

Editorial written by Sumitomo for the Spring 2020 Seasons Magazine.

Valor® herbicides residual uses in fallow and prior to planting summer crops offers outstanding flexibility in crops grown and boosts efforts in combating herbicide resistance.

Valor herbicide is becoming very well known for its effective pre – emergent (residual) control of a broad range of problem weeds in fallow and prior to planting summer crops. Valor offers excellent residual control (8 weeks +) of problem weeds such as Barnyard Grass, Feathertop Rhodes Grass, Fleabane and Milk Thistle, even against glyphosate resistant strains. Valor is also known for its ability to boost the knockdown weed control of non-selective herbicides when used at lower spike rates.  Additionally, Valor is now part of the Roundup Ready Plus cotton program and eligible for substantial cash rebates to the grower.

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Photo: Valor provides excellent residual controlof feathertop Rhodes grass and other difficult to control weeds.

Sumitomo agrosolutions point out there are no other Group G (PPO mode of action) herbicides registered for this residual use in fallow and prior to summer crops and there is no recorded resistance in Australia to Group G herbicides, making Valor an excellent option for resistance management.

Summary of the new residual uses for Valor herbicide.

At Planting

• Peanuts and Soybean. Pre-plant (280g) or PSPE (210g)

1 month pre–sowing

• Pigeon Pea , Maize, Sorghum and Navybean (210 – 280g)

2 month pre-sowing

• Cotton, Sunflower and Mungbeans (210 – 280g)

Channel banks

• (560 – 700g)

Photo: Sorghum planted minimum till at Pittsworth Qld into country with a history of heavy Feather Top Rhodes Grass. Valor applied at 280 g/ha 30 days pre-sowing, photo shows excellent level of residual weed control carried well into the emerged crop.

With the steady increase in herbicide resistance in mixed cropping areas and the need for more flexible weed control strategies, growers and agronomists have a highly flexible and effective tool at their disposal with Valor. Ticking all the key boxes for mixed cropping systems, Valor offers the ability to be used prior to a large range of crops, it has short and flexible re-cropping intervals (prior to summer and winter crops), it controls key problem weeds and controls weeds resistant to other herbicides.

Valor’s short plant backs to most summer crops make it a highly convenient choice given the drought conditions many growers experienced in recent years and the need for flexibility in crop choices that have occurred as a result. Valor’s short plant-back requirements enable growers to respond quickly to opportunities including salvaging failed crops and being able to quickly plant alternate crops where needed.

As seen in the table below, no plant-back period is required for Soybeans, Faba Beans and Peanuts while other crops such as Cotton, Sorghum, Maize, Navy Beans, Field Peas and Chickpeas, only require a short plant-back period and just 15 mm of rain prior to planting.

This is in great contrast to some other residual herbicides which can literally tie-up farming country for years, locking growers into growing only a narrow set of crops over an extended period (until rainfall and lengthy time requirements have been met). Valor is a Godsend in this regard, allowing growers the flexibility to grow a wide mix of crops weather they are coming out of drought conditions or not.

Summary of the re-cropping intervals for Valor herbicide.

Minimum re-cropping intervals

Note: Minimum 15mm rainfall required in addition to minimum time period for all residual rate re-cropping intervals (soybean, pegeon pea, peanuts and fababeans excluded)

Conserving moisture is critical any time of the year and a product like Valor that can help remove weed pressure in fallow but also offer carryover residual protection into the emerging crop is a valuable option for growers. This value is especially evident when Valors lack of any highly restrictive long plant-backs and its strong fit within herbicide resistance management strategies are recognised.

Valor also has excellent credentials with respect to soil health, being proven to have minimal affect on beneficial soil biology, particularly mycorrhizae which is so beneficial to most summer crops like sorghum, mungbeans, corn and cotton. Growers considering inoculating their crop with a mycorrhizae inoculant like EndoFuse this summer or their beans with a rhizobium inoculant can be confidence that Valor has no negative impact with these organisms.

Sumitomo encourage customers of Elders to try Valor this coming season so they can see how effective it is for increasing their cropping flexibility while managing resistance and ultimately improving the returns from their farming operations.