THE RECENT sharp drop in temperatures across some cereal-growing regions has left farmers facing a weed control problem.

The cold snap came after a period of unseasonably warm weather, which meant that cleavers – a key competitive weed in cereal crops – became stressed and 'shut down'. This rendered weed control as largely ineffective to traditional chemistry.

“Cleavers are a top target for growers at this time of year when they are making a decision about what to put in the sprayer,” said Dow AgroSciences' customer agronomist, Stuart Jackson.

“Failing to take them out will lead to a yield penalty and leave a problem in the field for next season.

“Temperatures are all over the place, but growers don’t have time to wait until the warmer weather returns. The worst case scenario would be growers applying their traditional chemistry now, only for it to be ineffective and then having to endure the expense of repeating the job.”

He pointed out that Dow’s new Arylex Active herbicides – Pixxaro EC and Zypar – have proven to deliver market-leading performance in cold-weather cleaver control.

“Pixxaro has shown to be nearly 40% more effective than florasulam – the previous market leader – in difficult conditions while Zypar has demonstrated nearly 100% efficacy,” Mr Jackson said.