SASKATOON – Two manufacturers of competing grassy weed herbicides are publicly wrangling over which is the best product to mix with Muster.
Muster is a herbicide registered for use in canola, manufactured by DuPont Canada. It controls broad-leaf weeds, notably wild mustard.
If farmers also want to control grassy weeds in their canola crops when using Muster, they will need a tank mix.
Select is one such mix, a grassy weed herbicide manufactured by Rh™ne-Poulenc Canada.
However, the Muster-Select tank mix is only listed on the Rh™ne-Poulenc label, at the high rate of Muster. Tank mixes listed on the DuPont label include Poast, a BASF product, and one of DuPont’s own products called Assure.
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All three are group one herbicides derived from the same family of chemistry.
In early March, DuPont issued a news release saying it had investigated complaints about poor broad-leaf weed control from Muster. It pinpointed the adjuvant Amigo, which must be used with the Select mixture, as the culprit.
Not long after, Rh™ne-Poulenc issued its own release, saying it has complete confidence in its Select/Muster tank mix.
Narrowed down problem
“During the summer of 1995, we seemed to be getting a lot more complaints,” said Keith Smith, oilseed product manager for DuPont. The company started its own investigation and found the common denominator was the Select tank mix.
Research found Amigo lowers the pH of the chemical solution, which reduces both the solubility and weed-killing power of Muster, said Smith.
Garry Van Den Bussche, Rh™ne-Poulenc’s Manitoba regional sales manager, said his company’s research shows “absolutely no antagonism between Select and Muster.”
Van Den Bussche said not one of 101 trials conducted last summer showed incompatibility between the two herbicides. The trials were done by both public and private researchers to gather data for an application to federal regulators in support of another Select/Muster tank mix, at the lower rate (eight vs 12 grams per acres) of Muster.
“There was no antagonism with any of the trials,” he said, adding that thousands of acres have been sprayed with the tank mix in Manitoba alone without problems.
Van Den Bussche said Rh™ne-Poulenc expects to get approval on the new label for the lower rate of Muster by the end of May.
Trying to help competitor
Smith said his company made the results of its investigation public to protect Muster’s good name and reputation in the marketplace, not to win back market share with its own Assure tank mix.
But Van Den Bussche said he is frustrated by the time his company has had to spend dealing with the tank mix controversy and said it is “strictly a marketing ploy from DuPont.”
He has a warning for those who use the tank mix and find it doesn’t perform. “If you use Muster with Select, you’re on your own,” he said. “We don’t support it (the tank mix), we don’t recommend it.”
Van Den Bussche said Rh™ne-Poulenc will stand behind the performance of both products.
