Canada approved BASF's Outlook herbicide

BASF Canada recently announced it’s picked up regulatory approval for Outlook, a dimethenamid-P (group 15) herbicide to be applied on potato crops as a pre-emergent — that is, after potatoes are planted and before the crop and weeds emerge.

Depending on soil type (coarse, medium or fine texture) and percentage of organic matter in the soil, Outlook is to be applied at rates of 756, 860 or 963 millilitres per hectare.

The product is registered for control of green, yellow and giant foxtail, smooth and large crabgrass, old witchgrass, barnyard grass and fall panicum, and for suupression of yellow nutsedge. Outlook’s label also covers it for control of eastern black nightshade and redroot pigweed at the 963 ml/ha rate, and for suppression of those weeds at lower rates.

“As the amount and timing of rainfall becomes more variable, Outlook will provide consistent control of nightshade, pigweed and annual grasses, even under drier conditions,” the company said.

As a group 15 herbicide, Outlook controls both triazine- and group 2-resistant weed biotypes “whose populations continue to increase across the country,” BASF added.

“Based on our extensive field-scale Canadian research program and several years of commercial use in the U.S., we see Outlook as an excellent new tool that will help growers address both inconsistent rainfall and the growing problem of herbicide resistance,” said Bruce Irons, BASF Canada’s technical specialist for horticultural products.

Dimethenamid-P, the company said, inhibits weed root and shoot growth, controlling susceptible weeds before they emerge from the soil. BASF has previously brought dimethenamid-P to market under the name Frontier Max, for use against green foxtail in grain corn and dry bean crops.

Rainfall is needed within seven to 10 days of treatment to activate and move the chemical into the soil zone, the company notes on the Outlook product label. If dry conditions persist, shallow cultivation or a rotary hoe will then be needed.