With Roundup and Liberty almost triple the price from 14 months ago, we suggest looking at alternative herbicides. Roundup and Liberty probably still have a place on your farm, but if you can find other products that will give you as good or better weed control for less money, that’s the way to go for the upcoming growing season. By this time next year, I would be absolutely shocked if Roundup and Liberty have not come down somewhat in price; and by this time two years from now, I am certainly hoping we will be talking about pricing that is similar to September of 2020. In the meantime, here are a few options for you to consider.
Liberty at the full rate in soybeans, 43 ounces per acre, costs about $25+. Here are 5 options that cost $25 or less and will hopefully give better weed control.
1. 3 Pre’s Plus Post Residual. If you apply Trifluralin plus metribuzin plus either Valor or Authority, that will cost you roughly $14. Follow early post with either Anthem Maxx (Zidua + Cadet) or Warrant Ultra (Warrant + Flexstar) for about $9. In total, that’s $23 for five chemistries and four modes of action, all with residual, and all with great activity on Roundup-resistant weeds.
2. Two Shots of Enlist One in Enlist Soybeans. On our farm, this is what we did last year. Instead of using one application of Enlist One and one of over-priced Liberty, we went twice with Enlist One. I don’t like that from a weed resistance aspect, but Liberty will hopefully be back down in price by the summer of 2023, so this should just be a one-time deal. Since Enlist One is far less than half the price of Liberty, you can spray it later (R2 instead of R1 for Liberty), and you don’t need to carry as much water, and it works better even when you have some crop canopy – this is a great option.
3. Phoenix. This is basically Cobra plus a safener. The full rate of 12.5 ounces per acre costs about $10, and it has great activity on water hemp, ragweed, and many other broadleaves. Just like when you used to apply straight Cobra, we would encourage you to tankmix 1.25 pounds of Solubor to minimize leaf burn, but Phoenix is definitely easier on the crop than Cobra. Phoenix, like Cobra and Liberty, has no soil residual.
4. Flexstar. The biggest drawback to Flexstar is carryover. Our advice is to use Flexstar no later than June 15 and to keep the rate down. I never recommend more than 12 ounces per acre, and at that rate, the weeds had better be small or you will not get control. That said, the contact and residual activity Flexstar has is very good on waterhemp, black nightshade, and a whole host of broadleaves. Plus, the price is right, since the generic alternatives to Flexstar cost just $4 per acre at the 12-ounce rate.
5. Cadet. The full rate of 0.9 ounces per acre costs around $10. Cadet does have some soil residual, but not so much that carryover will be a concern next year. Cadet is a little easier on the crop compared to Cobra, and it is in the same chemical family (PPO) as both Flexstar and Phoenix. We usually rate this just a little worse on waterhemp than Flexstar and Phoenix, but it is certainly not bad. If you have already applied Flexstar and/or Cobra, Cadet is a great option.
Back in July of 2008 (the last time the Olympics were in China), the price of Roundup PowerMAX topped $53 per gallon. For the low rate (32 ounces of 4# or 22 ounces of 6# PowerMAX), that was about $9 per acre, but at the “new” standard rate of 32 ounces of PowerMAX, that’s over $13 per acre. Unfortunately, your alternatives to Roundup today are no different than they were 13 years ago, but nevertheless, they are still effective.
1. Gramoxone. This is for burndown situations when you want to kill everything. One quart of Gramoxone is roughly $8. While Gramoxone is more dangerous to human beings (although no more dangerous than the gasoline you pump in your pickup each week), it is much faster. By the time you leave the field, you can usually see exactly where you started spraying. Gramoxone is very effective on almost all weeds, provided you get good spray coverage. Gramoxone, like Roundup, works best when the weather is warm.
2. Full rate of your broadleaf herbicide. Back in 2007, many farmers were using a full-ish rate of Roundup plus a half rate of another broadleaf herbicide. In 2008 when the Roundup price tripled, most cut the Roundup in half and bumped the rate of the other herbicide. For example, generic mesotrione (Callisto) only costs about $3 for the full rate, so it is far less expensive to go in that direction. Even a half rate of Roundup (or possibly a one-third rate) will wipe out all annual grasses. Since you are counting on the full rate of the broadleaf killer to do its job, there should not be a need to use the full rate of Roundup in the tankmix. This theory applies in Roundup Ready Corn or Soybeans when you use a strong rate of a broadleaf herbicide.
3. Clethodim (Select Max). When you use Select Max or generic clethodim, you will get great grass control. Since the full rate of 8 ounces of clethodim or the equivalent rate of 12 ounces of Select Max only costs around $5 or $6, you can switch over to this to save a little money instead of using Roundup. Plus, when you do that, you will kill all the Roundup Ready volunteer corn in your fields, as well.
4. Go back to what we used to do in the “old days”. Before Roundup Ready Corn came out, the standard (and best) weed control program was to use a full rate of a Group 15 (Harness, Surpass, Outlook, Dual, etc.) followed by a full rate of either mesotrione or Status plus a half pound of atrazine. That program was great about 95% of the time. The two biggest issues came when applying late and not getting a timely rain (just apply early so this is less likely to happen) and in super-heavy grass pressure fields (which now rarely exist thanks to Roundup). Over the last few years, many of the farmers raising conventional corn, which is about 10% of our customers, have gone back to the old herbicide program from 25 years ago with great success.
5. All the options listed on the previous page for replacing Liberty.
If you attend our Ag PhD Winter Workshops in January and February, we will run through even more examples and options for you if you want to switch away from Roundup and/or Liberty. Weed control is incredibly important, and there are a lot of different ways to go to reach your end goals of clean fields and high yields.