Beat the odds for a better cereal crop.
- Darren Faire
- Mar 26
- 2 min read
As cereal growers head into Autumn planting, the race is on to beat weeds before they emerge. But the odds aren’t always in your favour as residual herbicide performance is at risk from unpredictable weather and challenging application conditions.
Residual herbicides typically have a limited lifespan in soil and their effectiveness can diminish over time due to leaching out of the weed germination zone in the top 5cm of soil. Heavy rainfall after application speeds up the leaching process, particularly in light soils, posing the greatest threat to herbicides with high mobility and low absorption into soil particles but even the likes of diflufenican can migrate from the critical weed germination zone. At the other end of the spectrum, dry conditions, like we’ve had this summer, can have an equally adverse effect on herbicide activation and uptake. Additionally, spray drift and clods can cause coverage ‘weak spots’, allowing weeds to find a way through.
Getting robust herbicide coverage across the soil surface is crucial for effective pre-em performance. The solution is adding some extra horsepower to your mix.
Have a bet each way with BackRow Max
For growers applying a pre-emergence herbicide programme this autumn, adding BackRow Max is a sure bet for achieving more efficient and consistent weed control with herbicide actives such as diflufenican, flufenacet or pyroxasulfone in wet or dry conditions.
The favourite in all conditions
BackRow Max is a specialist residual herbicide adjuvant that must be added to the tank FIRST. With a simple use rate of 400ml/ha, irrespective of water volume, it’s designed specifically for use with pre-emergence tank mixes to maximise performance in all weather conditions.
A unique benefit of BackRow Max is that it increases herbicide and moisture levels in the 5cm weed germination zone, lowering dependency on rainfall for herbicide activation and uptake. This can pay dividends for cereal growers applying pre-emergent herbicide this autumn as the extra retention boosts residual activity in both wet and dry weather. Applications are more efficient, increasing the longevity of weed control, and also more resilient to the challenging weather conditions which threaten effective weed control.
By ensuring optimum droplet size, BackRow Max, when partnered with your pre-emergence herbicide helps to create a stronger barrier to reduce weed competition in challenging application/weather conditions compared to herbicide applied alone. BackRow Max significantly reduces the number of fine spray droplets smaller than 100 microns which are the most susceptible to drift and increases the number of droplets in the optimum size range for improved deposition and increased spray coverage of the soil.
A proven thoroughbred.
Agrisource has been trialling BackRow Max for several years with a wide range of pre-emergent herbicide actives, including those used in cereals, and its performance is proven and consistent. In addition to small plot replicated trials, extensive commercial use across this time has confirmed improved weed control with no crop safety issues.
So for a winning performance from your pre-em herbicides this autumn, we reckon all cereal growers should consider having BackRow Max in their starting line-up.
