There is a new registered dim-class herbicide for grassy weed control on borage.
Weed control in most minor crops is difficult because of the lack of registered products available. Herb and spice producers often run into problems getting effective weed control chemicals registered in Canada.
Without a budget to run trials and testing, producers must appeal to the Pest Management Regulatory Agency for minor use exceptions.
For borage, also known as the bee plant for its ability to attract pollinating insects, a minor use exception has become a PMRA label expansion. Producers can use BASF’s Post Ultra, sethoxydim, to control grasses such as wild oats, foxtail, volunteer cereals, quackgrass and millet.
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Interest in borage as a crop has grown along with markets for gamma lanoline acid, an omega 6 fatty acid found in borage seed.
David Courcelles of Agriculture Canada said the registration would provide farmers with a needed weed management tool. He said Post Ultra first entered the national minor use
herbicide registration project in 2003.
Coriander and dill had previously been registered for use with Post Ultra, a Group 1 herbicide.
