Paradigm herbicide with Arylex active from Dow AgroSciences Australia: flexible in use and fatal to weeds

Paradigm™ Herbicide with Arylex™ active was launched in Australia in 2015.  Paradigm provides control of brassica weeds, fumitory (all species including F. bastardii), deadnettle, prickly lettuce, medic, snail medic, mallow, milk thistle and bifora; plus a wide range of other broadleaf weeds across Australia in wheat, barley, triticale and oats.  Matt Bissett, agronomist from the Victorian mallee reported: “All in all, I have been really happy with Paradigm's activity on fumitory and bifora, it’s great to have a reliable option up our sleeve!”
 

“Paradigm has been a great success across Australia due to its broad spectrum weed control and excellent compatibility with other ag-chem inputs” advised Dan Dixon, Cereal Marketing Manager for Dow AgroSciences.  Paradigm has been found to be physically compatible with a wide range of products. LVE 600 MCPA is a recommended tank mix for most situations.  “During the 2014 pre-launch year agronomists tried 38 different tank mixes, including insecticides, fungicides and fertilisers. Growers and their advisors tried many more tank mixes during the 2015 season in commercial applications and there were no reports of any compatibility issues. I think some people really tried to break it, but ended up very happy” stated Mr Dixon.  Paradigm should be applied with Uptake™ Spraying Oil, BS1000®, Chemwet® 1000 or Spreadwet® 1000.  The choice of adjuvant will be determined by the mixing partner and weed spectrum as detailed on the label.
 

Paradigm has a wide application window from 3 leaf (GS 13) to full flag leaf emergence (GS 39) but it fits best as an early post emergent herbicide, on small (2-6 leaf) weeds, in a mix with 300–600 mL LVE 600 MCPA. This can be tank-mixed with fungicides, especially in barley, for one pass weed and disease control. 
 

Ryan Wallis, agronomist from South Australia summarised his experiences:  “We used quite a bit of Paradigm last year.  It’s got a wide weed spectrum, but the main reason we used so much of it was because it gives so much more flexibility with its tank mixing capabilities and wide application window. Putting fungicides and insecticides with it; we didn’t have any troubles at all.  We’ll use a similar volume again this year if it does the same job it did last year.”
 

“We are seeing residual control through the winter months on some weeds but this is always determined by a number of factors.  Growers should only expect weeds that have emerged at the time of application to be fully controlled” advised Mr Dixon.  Paradigm also has excellent winter crop rotational flexibility with both actives (the new group I chemistry Arylex, and the ALS group B florasulam) having a short soil half-life.  Breakdown is not influenced soil pH and is driven by microbial activity in warm moist soil. There are no crop residues in hay crops or in straw baled after harvest when used as directed.  Short re-cropping intervals also allow double cropping in some situations.
 

Damien Sommerville, a spray contractor from South Australian, commented on how easy Paradigm was to use: “It has a single use rate of 25 g/ha, so there is less opportunity for a mistake.  Being able to use one product over barley, oats and wheat; the rapidly dissolving granules, three hour rainfast period, and easy tank cleaning mean I can get more hectares sprayed in a day.  I see this as a huge advantage over some of the competitor products on the market”.