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Don’t assume dicamba is at fault
An extension educator is urging soybean growers who notice symptoms of herbicide drift not to jump to conclusions.
Ryan Miller with the University of Minnesota says growth regulator products like dicamba and 2,4-D are being applied, and there’s probably a heightened sensitivity following hundreds of off-target complaints a year ago.
“So if you’ve got a bean field that starts to exhibit injury symptoms and they’re telltale of a growth regulator, you’ve got to get in the field and start ruling out where the potential source of injury came from.”
He tells Brownfield the most common symptoms are leaf cupping and twisted stems, but the source might not be so obvious.
“Oftentimes people will see symptoms appear and they’ll look at the most recent things they can remember and try to point the finger at that as the cause for the injury they’re seeing. So we have to take that into account.”
Miller says symptoms don’t typically develop until 10 to 14 days after exposure.
He’d like growers to rule out some other possibilities too before assuming dicamba is to blame.
“There are several things that kind of mimic growth regulator injury including site-of-action 15 herbicides. They can kind of create symptoms similar to dicamba injury.”
Miller says plant viruses and certain pests can also cause similar symptoms.
And he points out growth regulator herbicides aren’t just used for agricultural purposes, but to control weeds along ditches and railroad tracks.
When you’re in the middle of a cattle stampede, and you get stomped, it probably wasn’t elephants that stepped on you. Take off the Monsanto hat and get with reality.