More weeds added to Express Pro herbicide label

DuPont Canada's Group 2 herbicide Express Pro has picked up label approval for control of three more weeds.

Health Canada's Pest Management Regulatory Agency has approved the product for control of scentless chamomile, up to eight centimetres, and of white cockle, to the rosette stage.

Express Pro's label now also includes residual control of cleavers, up to eight cm, and suppression of night-flowering catchfly, up to eight cm.

The product, sold in water-soluble granule form combining tribenuron methyl and metsulfuron methyl, is sold alone but must be used in a mix with glyphosate.

"White cockle and night-flowering catchfly are two weeds that are up and coming problems, while scentless chamomile and cleavers are ongoing concerns," Jon Gough, cereals product manager for DuPont Canada, said in the company's release Tuesday.

White cockle is spreading across the Prairies as reduced tillage becomes more prevalent, the company said. Night-flowering catchfly, which DuPont noted is often confused with white cockle, is becoming "increasingly problematic," due mainly to a lack of products cleared to control it.

Express Pro can provide "high-level suppression" of about 75 per cent control, which for growers "will be a significant improvement over previous options," Gough said in the release.

With wet weather in the fall of 2009 and the amount of snow cover this winter, scentless chamomile can expect "favourable growing conditions" in 2010, particularly in the black and gray wooded soil zones.

And Express Pro's residual activity on cleavers will mean growers can expect control of new flushes up to 15 days after application, depending on infestation levels and environmental conditions, the company said.

Express Pro was designed for use in out-of-crop weed control pre-seed to wheat (spring, durum and winter) and barley, and for use in chem-fallow and post-harvest prior to wheat and barley, the company said.