With the loss of Avenge, Mataven and recently Avadex, canaryseed growers in Western Canada have seen their registered wild oat weed control options shrink to nothing.
Agriculture Canada researchers like Bill May at the Indian Head, Sask., research farm have spent the past few years looking at the Bayer herbicide Puma Super to see if it might qualify for a minor use registration on the crop.
“Up until this year we’ve been looking at the possibility of using Puma Super on canaryseed,” said May.
“But with the extensive damage that Puma Super did last year under very cold conditions, we’ve pulled back from doing that research. Bayer has indicated that they will not be supporting a minor use registration for Puma Super on canaryseed.
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“We’d been looking at it over three or four years. We always saw some damage from Puma Super but not near the damage we saw last year – significant yield reductions. Puma Super really does nail canaryseed under cold conditions and we saw that last year.”
May said the Puma Super label cautions against spraying when the nighttime low is below 5 C. The problem May encountered was cold nights around the time of spraying. This resulted in stunting and yellowing of the crop.
“The best way to see it is leave a check strip. We had check strips and the difference was night and day. We saw 50 percent reductions in growth and 10 to 15 bushel loss in yield.”
Another issue with Puma Super in canaryseed was early crop staging. The product needed to be applied at the two to three leaf stage, before the crop started tillering.
“Once it gets to tillering, that’s not good either, but cold temperatures appear to be worse. The nice thing about Avenge, it was applied after the crop started tillering. It was much later.”
May said there isn’t an option to reduce the herbicide rate on canaryseed.
Reduced rates don’t make the product significantly safer and they reduce the wild oat control.
“So not only do you risk damage to the crop, but you reduce weed control, so you get a poor crop and no wild oat control.”
Eric Johnson, a federal weed biologist, saw similar results in 2004 at the research farm near Scott, Sask.
“I would say cold temperatures and even stress conditions, any sort of stress, seems to make it worse. If the crop is not growing quickly and the metabolism is slowing down, it really got hammered,” said Johnson.
“We had three good years with it, then last year it really took a lickin’. We were disappointed, but there’s no way it could get registered with the type of injury we saw last year.”
Johnson said the search for grassy weed control in canaryseed will have to take a new direction.
“We’re starting at Square 1 again. We’re doing a bit of screening on a couple of new candidates. They are products that are registered on other crops in Eastern Canada, but this is the first year. We know they will control wild oats, but whether the canaryseed will tolerate it or not (is the question),” he said.
While Mataven and Avenge appear gone for good, May said a company from the United States is planning to bring Avadex back soon.
“Hopefully we’ll have some available this fall for canaryseed growers. Either a fall or spring application of Avadex can be used. I like to see fall. I think it’s better on zero-till land. You get the snow melt to make sure the Avadex is activated and in the ground,” he said.
For broadleaf weeds, canaryseed growers have plenty of options.
“There’s a large number of chemicals registered for broadleaf (weed control),” said May.
“Curtail M, Prestige and Trophy have been added, so they’re now labelled for canaryseed. Producer options for broadleaf weeds have grown significantly.”
