We carry a full line of chemicals and fertilizers to service our producers. We also carry several chemicals in bulk to get you the best possible price and have bulk shuttles and pumps available for your convinence. Our facilities are placed throughout our trade area for your convenience. Our knowledgeable staff is here to serve you and we have several Certified Crop Advisors on our staff to get you the correct answer to your crop protection questions.

   Valier                                      Choteau                                  Sunburst
924 Railroad Ave.                      47 Hwy. 220                            210 Front St. N 
Valier, MT  59486                      Choteau, MT  59422                  Sunburst, MT  59482 
(406) 279-3615                         (406) 466-5862                        (406) 937-3421  

 Chester  
301 Washington  
Chester, MT  59522 
(406) 759-5978 
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 Get a $25 gift card and Learn about Headline Plant Health. Log into the link below and it takes about 15 minutes to complete the module and the first 15,000 people will recieve the gift card.

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Headline Fungicide Bullet Points

Headline

• $100.00 per gallon rebate available to growers this year that purchase Headline
• Purchase before Feb 15th for the maximum rebate of $100.00 per gallon
• Grower must send rebate form in with invoice to get the rebate
• Take advantage of the best performing Fungicide for Wheat and Barley available
• Farm Plan available to growers with interest free finacing through Dec 2010  

Please call or email if you have any questions,

Regards,

Chris

 www.planthealtheducation.com


Chris Berg
BASF Business Representative
P.O. Box 756
1350 Coyote Hill Road
Conrad, MT 59425
406 278 0156 Office
406 210 4460 Cell
406 278 0166 Fax

HERBICIDE APPLICATION IN COLD WEATHER

Optimum temperatures for most herbicide applications are between 65 and 85 degrees. Herbicides affect the growing crop much differently when the crop is growing under cool conditions. Cool conditions slow crop growth and development which can then slow the rate at which crops metabolize certain herbicides. Slowing the metabolism of herbicides can result in greater potential for crop injury from certain herbicides. Additionally, cool/cold conditions cause many weeds to slow growth and/or harden off cell walls, which can both hinder the uptake and translocation of many herbicides, and lead to slower and reduced weed control. Corn growth and development is slowed by cool conditions. Cool temperatures hamper nutrient absorption from the soil and therefore it is extremely common for corn plants to exhibit nutrient deficiency symptoms such as a yellow and/or purple discoloration when early spring weather turns cool. Some fields may differ in deficiency symptoms as hybrids, starter fertilizer, and presence of insects will impact the ability of corn to tolerate cool weather. Postemergence herbicides should not be applied to corn plants that have turned yellow or purple due to cool weather. Soybean growth will not be impacted as greatly as corn but can be slowed somewhat by cool weather. The extent will depend on whether or not there is another stress involved such as wet conditions, root rot, or a soil applied herbicide. Small grains actually grow quite well in cool conditions. However, some herbicides which are commonly used in small grains are much more active in cool weather. Others may not provide adequate weed control.

The following general rules should be remembered for certain herbicide groups: ACCASE herbicides such as Assure II, Poast, Select Max and Volunteer provide better weed control in warm rather than cool conditions, a decrease in weed control is possible in cool conditions. Other ACCASE herbicides such as Puma are much more active in cool conditions and may be actually more effective on certain weeds during cold temperatures. However, because the activity of these herbicides is increased, crop injury potential is also greater. Another ACCASE herbicide, Discover, performs very similarly across a wide array of environmental conditions. However, the Discover label does warn of potential for crop injury when applied within 48 hours of temperatures below 40 degrees. Axial XL (which is another ACCASE herbicide but is unique chemistry compared to other ACCASE herbicides) provides consistent performance across various temperature ranges. However, reduced weed control and slight crop response is possible when temperatures are cool and cold (less than 50 degrees) for a prolonged period of time (days). Sulfonylurea and Imidazolinone herbicides are often metabolized by the crop and therefore can cause injury when conditions become cool and cold. Examples include Accent, Accent Gold, Affinity, Basis, Everest, FirstRate, GoldSky, Harmony GT, Lightning, Maverick, Olympus, Olympus Flex, Orion, PowerFlex, Pursuit, Rimfire and Raptor. Environmental conditions that support vigorous weed growth often will result in greatest herbicide activity of the fore-mentioned class of herbicides. Subsequently, when conditions are cool/cold during or after herbicide application, weed control is often slower and overall efficacy can often be diminished.

Triazine herbicides (Sencor, Atrazine) can increase crop injury when rain that provides additional root uptake is combined with cold temperatures. 04/27/05 Cobra, Flexstar, Gramoxone Inteon, Liberty, and Ultra Blazer usually do not have any increased risk in crop injury but may result in reduced weed control when conditions are cool/cold following application of these herbicides due to hardening off of weeds in cold temperatures. However, Buctril in corn and small grains, and Wolfpack Advanced in small grains both contain bromoxynil which can result in increased cosmetic leaf burn when applications are made in cool weather. This cosmetic injury rarely results in yield loss. Aim performs fairly consistently across varying temperatures and is actually more sensitive to sunlight. Aim should provide very good burndown activity, even in cool conditions, provided it receives adequate sunlight for activation. Huskie contains both bromoxynil and pyrasulfotole. As noted earlier, bromoxynil can result in increased cosmetic injury when applications are made during or just prior to cool/cold weather. However, Huskie contains a safener (mefenpyr-diethyl) and also contains less bromoxynil than other bromoxynil formulations so injury potential is much less than traditional bromoxynil formulations (Buctril, Bronate, Wolfpack etc.). Weed control from Huskie is relatively consistent across temperatures, but in extreme cool conditions, weed control can be reduced due to weed hardening off. Phenoxy herbicides such as 2,4-D, Banvel, Clarity, Curtail, Dicamba, Hornet, MCPA, and Stinger usually do not increase crop injury in cool conditions but weed control (although usually not reduced) will usually take longer before the effects are noticeable.

Glyphosate herbicides will also take longer before affects are noticeable and overall weed control is often reduced. Additionally, many perennial weeds such as Canada Thistle and Quackgrass will have a reduction in translocation during cool/conditions in the spring which will result in reduced weed control. The best recommendation to avoid either crop injury or reduced weed control is to make applications to healthy plants after daytime temperatures exceed 60 degrees. If the herbicide application is "absolutely necessary" under cool or cold conditions, check your herbicide label for any warnings or precautions.

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Useful Web Links

http://extn.msu.montana.edu/ag.asp