By Brian Hefty

There are a lot of new product names this year in crop protection, but here is my Top 10 list:

  1. Xanthion – Headline plus Integral bio-fungicide for use in-furrow in corn.  For around $10 per acre we are expecting 5 to 7 bushel yield gains in corn.
  2. DiFlexx – This is basically Clarity with a crop safener.  DiFlexx still has drift potential, but if crop safety is no longer a concern, dicamba fits on a lot more corn acres as the glyphosate-resistant weed control is excellent.
  3. ILeVO – Seed treatment for sudden death syndrome.  Prior to now, there have been no seed treatments with activity on sudden death syndrome, and no foliar products either.  Your only hope was variety selection.  We still want you to pick tolerant varieties, but adding ILeVO will definitely help reduce SDS.
  4. Solstice – This is a premix of the active ingredients found in Callisto and Cadet.  In corn, this gives you an inexpensive option with good contact and residual activity, as well as less carryover potential.
  5. Trivapro – This is a premix of the active ingredients found in Quadris, Tilt, and a new SDHI.  In other words, it’s a fungicide with 3 modes of action to help prevent resistance, as well as give a broad spectrum of control.
  6. Zolera – Domark plus alphaBeta proteins.  I don’t know how much better this will be compared to Domark fungicide itself, but I’m certainly anxious to try it.
  7. Rowel, Rowel FX, and Precept.  I know.  This is more than 1 product.  I lumped them together because they are Monsanto’s versions of products already available on the market today.  Rowel is Valor.  Rowel FX is Valor XLT, and Precept is Force (the dry version).
  8. Limus – nitrogen stabilizer somewhat similar to Agrotain as a volatilization-reducer.  Nitrogen stabilizers help prevent loss, keeping more nitrogen in your field and on target.
  9. D7 – a natural product for downy brome suppression.  We’re very interested to see how good D7 is, as downy brome is one of the worst weed problems today.
  10. Acuron – Callisto, Dual, atrazine, and a new HPPD.  3 sites of action for pre or post-emerge use.  The new HPPD (bicyclopyrone) has a little better burndown than Callisto and a slightly different weed spectrum.