Common ragweed

Corn herbicides are only as good as their active ingredient (AI) components, and some AIs are more effective than others. There are a lot of generic products available, but using generics can invite a certain amount of risk – both from mixing your own, as well as not incorporating the most advanced technology available.

When selecting a herbicide, it might be easy to focus more on input costs, but you should focus on finding a product that delivers the output you want in your corn fields.

Dr. Erin Burns, assistant professor and extension weed scientist at Michigan State University, says using multiple effective sites of action is a hallmark of good herbicide resistance management and extremely important when managing different types of weeds.

One of the most effective AIs is the Syngenta-exclusive bicyclopyrone, which is a HPPD inhibitor that, when combined with the other 3 active ingredients in Acuron® corn herbicide – mesotrione, atrazine and S-metolachlor – delivers more effective and more consistent weed management.

More than 1,000 trials show bicyclopyrone helps Acuron deliver:

• Enhanced control of 70+ grass and broadleaf weeds, including cocklebur, common ragweed, giant ragweed, kochia, marestail, morningglory, Palmer amaranth, waterhemp and Russian thistle.
• Built-in burndown control of weeds like dandelion, foxtail, marestail and ragweed.
• Longest-lasting residual control, which helps fully protect yield potential and minimize the weed seed bank for next year’s crop.
• Greater consistency across the various weed spectrums, weather conditions and soil types, meaning Acuron will deliver a higher level of weed control more often, resulting in fewer weeds escapes and necessary resprays.

Bicyclopyrone is similar to the HPPD inhibitor in Callisto® herbicide, but it provides additional burndown activity and greater consistency for longest-lasting weed control.

This combination is particularly important in managing early-season weeds and preventing them from emerging. This can help preserve your corn’s yield potential early in the season when it’s most critical.

This powerful efficacy of bicyclopyrone in combination with the other AIs in Acuron means that when used preemergence at full label rates, Acuron can unlock your corn’s full yield potential to help you discover 5 – 15 more bushels an acre than any other corn herbicide.* This is because less weed competition equals more nutrients, sunlight and water available for the growing corn crop, which leads to more bushels and, ultimately, more revenue potential.

Dr. Burns notes that for optimal herbicide performance and weed resistance management, growers should always use full and labeled rates. When you reduce rates, some weeds may develop metabolic resistance and can metabolize the half-rate application, rendering it ineffective. Additionally, lower-than-labeled rates can result in preemergent weed escapes that could impact yield throughout the rest of the season.

Calculate the extra revenue potential you could find next season with Acuron.

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*Acuron yield advantage range based on 2016 Syngenta and university replicated trials comparing Acuron to Corvus®, Resicore®, SureStart® II and Verdict® applied preemergence and at full labeled rates. For more information on Acuron versus an individual product, ask your Syngenta representative.