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MU: Glyphosate and pH factor with dicamba

A leading weed scientist says there’s a lot that’s been learned about dicamba off-target movement in the past year.

Dr. Kevin Bradley with the University of Missouri, tells Brownfield Ag News that in the past few months it’s been discovered that there’s more dicamba in the air when glyphosate is included in the tank, “From a volatility standpoint, if you’re a believer and you’re concerned it’s in that – which I am – the safest bet is to keep that glyphosate out.”

And over the past year, Bradley says spray tank and soil pH have raised red flags, “If you have too low of a pH of your spray tank, you’re increasing the likelihood of volatility right out of the nozzles, if you will. We’ve also learned the importance of soil pH. The lower the soil pH, the more volatile your product is that’s going to hit it.”

Bradley says it’s not just Xtend but other technologies, if overused, that can lead to weed resistance and farmers need to use a combination of management strategies, “It basically all boils down to the fact that it’s not always going to come out of a jug and I think our farmers need to get used to that in the future.” To that end, MU is also doing research on harvest weed seed control, among other research.