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3 Things to Know About Adjuvants

06/05/2018

Farmers work diligently each day to maximize their crop’s potential. That includes getting the most out of crop inputs like herbicides and fungicides. But how do you know if it’s working to its highest potential given all the varying conditions that can happen at application time? That is the benefit of including an adjuvant to your crop protection program.

Here are three things to know when using adjuvants.

  1. Why use an adjuvant

You already know that spraying your crops controls weeds and diseases. What you might not know is that adding an adjuvant helps maximize the effectiveness of the crop protection products you use. And, beyond efficacy, adjuvants help you manage environmental risks like drift and off-target movement.

“Drift and off-target movement are growing concerns for farmers when using certain herbicides. Adjuvants can reduce these risks,” says Dr. David Powell, GROWMARK, Weed Science Technical Manager. “Drift control adjuvants maximize droplet retention for better coverage and herbicide uptake. Other adjuvants help the crop protection products penetrate the leaf surface.”

Powell also indicated that adjuvants perform a similar function for fungicides in protecting plant health.

2. Choosing the right adjuvant

Not all adjuvants are the same. Nor do they work with all crop protection products. Adjuvants are formulated to address specific local conditions that might hinder the efficacy of the crop protection product. And they are specifically approved for use with certain crop protection products which you will always find in the label information. So, selecting the right adjuvant can get complicated.

According to Powell, farmers need to factor in environmental conditions at application time. Temperature, humidity levels and rainfall amounts can influence the efficacy of your crop protection product. So can water properties like pH and hardness in the water used for mixing chemistries. Even target surface conditions like leaf texture, plant stress, insect growth stage or soil type can play a role. Determining which adjuvant is best in your varying conditions allows the crop production product to work harder for you.

One of the latest FS adjuvants, FS Intention Advanced, is a concentrated premix with drift reduction technology and water conditioning agents. Its foliar retention agent minimizes off-target movement to protect the performance potential of herbicides like glyphosate and dicamba. Recent university wind tunnel tests showed that FS Intention Advanced minimized driftable fines by more than 400 percent when included in the tank when compared to just the tank-mixed products.

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3. Managing your risk

Application of crop protection products has become increasingly complex in recent years. You have more crop production products to consider. With those come more adjuvants each designed to meet specific conditions. Then you must factor in label requirements for the adjuvants approved for use with each crop protection products. When combined, it makes your risk management decisions more complicated.

With this increased risk, a growing number of farmers now opt to have custom applicators take care of their spraying needs rather than doing it themselves. FS Custom Applicators are constantly in training to familiarize themselves with the newest application guidelines and the proper adjuvants to use with the various crop protection products.

“FS Custom Applicators have access to an extensive list of the latest crop protection and adjuvant choices. They are experts in matching up these products for farmers’ specific needs,” said Powell. “Then our custom applicators follow the label and mixing requirements to ensure efficacy for the best results in the field.”

As part of your risk management plan, contact your local FS Member Company to learn more about FS Adjuvants, our newest FS Intention Advanced and our Custom Application programs.  

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