By Justin Walker
Communications Specialist

Growers are encouraged to strictly follow pesticide labels and product requirements.

Dr. Peter Dotray, professor and Extension lead specialist with Texas Tech University, Texas A&M AgriLife Research and Texas A&M AgriLife Extension service, is urging growers to continue to respect the set guidelines.

“Certainly, there were lots of success stories, lots of glyphosate-resistant weeds that were controlled when the technology is used as part of a system,” Dotray said at the Texas Plant Protection Association conference in Bryan.

The technology Dotray referred to was the new cotton technologies, XtendFlex and Enlist, released one year ago.

Dotray emphasized that growers should not rely solely on the new products, but instead use them as part of a system.

“There were pretty significant problems in some parts of the country—Arkansas and Missouri, in particular—where they had lots of off-target movement,” Dotray said.

While only 10 complaints have been filed in the Lone Star State to date, Dotray believes that important information on pesticide labels may still be overlooked.

“I think it’s still important to impress on applicators that the label is full of very necessary information regarding requirements that need to be met for applying dicamba and 2,4-D products —certain nozzles, which various tank mix partners require, carrier volumes, wind speed, wind direction, etc.,” Dotray said.

More information on the new technologies and changes to current pesticide application regulations can be found here.