Three new products for wheat

The 2020 Commodity Classic seems like ages ago. (COVID-19 fatigue, anyone?) Yet, during the annual event in San Antonio, we caught up with some crop protection companies who wanted to share some highlights of their work in wheat.

Terraxa Wheat Seed Treatment

Wireworms are a worsening problem in new wheat stands, but BASF belives Terraxa wheat seed treatment is a solution. It is a new mode of action, says Ruhiyyh Dyrdahl-Young, seed treatment specialist with BASF. Terraxa is a new Group 30 insecticide, that kills wireworms quickly and cleanly upon contact. "It's exciting to bring a new AI to the market," she says.

Wireworms are affecting more acres of wheat, and across the Northern Prairie moving south into the southern High Plains, she adds. Plus, wireworms can live in the soil between five and seven years.

"The main way we lose yield to wireworms is stand loss. A heavy infestation can cause 50% stand loss, and they will feed off growing root tips throughout the season," Dyrdahl-Young says. "We talk about wheat's ability to tiller, but dead plants don't tiller."

Terraxa is a ready-to-use seed-applied insecticide. It can be applied by itself, or as Terraxa F4, which adds the active ingredients F500, metalaxyl, tebuconazole, and xemium, which protects against a host of cereal seedling diseases.

EPA registration for Terraxa and Terraxa F4 is expected in spring 2021. It will be labeled for all classes of wheat, rye, triticale, and barley.

How Topguard fared in Year 2

Topguard fungicide by FMC is showing promise as a protectant against yield-robbing foliar diseases, says Ryan Hunt, technical services manager, FMC.

"In Kansas last year, we saw a 21-bushel-per-acre yield increase, consistently over untreated fields," Hunt says. "In spring wheat, we saw a 6- to 8-bushel yield advantage."

2019 was a strong year for foliar diseases, so in-season fungicide use was a wise move for spring and winter wheat growers. For winter wheat, Hunt advocates a split shot of the fungicide; 5 ounces at topdress time, and tank-mixed with a herbicide if necessary, then following up with 5 ounces at flagleaf to get the crop to grainfill.

"Topguard is the most mobile triazole available, at nearly two times more mobile than the leading competitor," Hunt says. The mobility allows Topguard to get to new leaf tips, yet it is not mobile in the soil, so the product has good residual activity, he adds.

As a triazole, Topguard has both curative and preventive properties, Hunt says.

WideARmatch herbicide adds Arylex punch for northern wheat states

Wheat farmers in the Dakotas west to the Pacific Northwest will appreciate that Corteva's new WideARmatch controls some 66 weeds, including kochia, lambsquarters, and marestail, according to Greg Lammert, marketing communications with Corteva.

Featuring the company's exclusive Arylex active ingredient plus the active ingredients cholopyrilid and fluroxypyr, WideARmatch can be used at 14 ounces per acre, from the two-leaf stage to flag leaf.

"This has multiple sites of action in the same group. It hits within a couple of different angles from a Group IV. Also, flexibility. Those northern geographies need something that works in cooler temperatures," Lammert says.

It may be tankmixed with additional herbicides or add with fungicide, according to Lammert.

EPA registration is expected in 2021, he adds.