A unique herbicide delivering highly effective control of woody weeds has launched in Australia.
Landholders are now able to better control invasive woody weeds in pastoral and grazing land with the help of Method® 240 SL herbicide, featuring a new active ingredient to Australia.
New to the Australian market, Method is a Group 4 herbicide containing the active ingredient aminocyclopyrachlor (ACP) and is used to control broadleaf, woody and brush weeds, such as mesquite, prickly acacia and broom.
Segment business manager at Envu, Paul Crack, says Method has relatively low use rates and is highly active on these invasive weeds, but also has a unique point of difference in terms of application options.
“Method is unique in the sense that it has a substantial root uptake, while a number of other actives are foliar uptake only and have limited root uptake,” Mr Crack explains.
“It can be applied in a number of fashions, including foliar spraying with a backpack, in a cut stump situation on eucalypts, where you cut the tree or bush down and then paint it onto the exposed surface, and also drill and fill, where you drill small holes in the tree at a convenient height and inject product into that hole.”
Mr Crack says the various application methods will allow farmers to control multiple species of weeds with just one herbicide.
“ACP has got quite a broad use pattern and really suits a lot of those situations where there are some dense infestations of woody weeds, like gorse,” he says.
“Where it is often hard to get 100 per cent coverage, Method is going to allow for effective control on those sorts of tough species.”
Envu has been doing trials now for a number of years with Desert Channels Queensland in Central Queensland to evaluate the efficacy of Method on these Weeds of National Significance.
Some of these trials took place over two sites near the outback town of Corfield, and the IVM Group’s Principal Scientist Sheldon Navie says the results show Method will be extremely useful for landholders in Australia in terms of both cost effectiveness and efficacy.
“At one site, we are trialling foliar application of Method on mesquite and have been looking at the trees 15 months after they have been treated,” Mr Navie explains.
“All of the trees that have been treated with Method at the label rate have died, whereas some of the trees we have treated with other products that are currently being used have started to recover and shoot again.”
As a soluble liquid (SL) formulation and water-based herbicide, Method is practically odourless and does not contain any strong solvents, which is a welcome contrast to other EC formulations currently on the market. The herbicide also works on slightly different target sites to some existing chemistry, so can help combat resistance that may build up in some species.
This article was written by Elders supplier Envu for Seasons magazine.