Growers have a new choice for controlling weeds prior to planting corn. Autumn® herbicide is now available to provide excellent control of an array of the toughest fall and early spring weeds.

As the adoption of no-till increases, a fall herbicide is increasingly important. A no-till environment, combined with recent mild winters, can increase the amount of winter annual weeds and pests that emerge in the spring.

Burndown applications of Autumn can help manage the pest pressure, which includes black cutworms. Plus, university trials show that herbicide programs including Autumn are already delivering results on tough weeds, including marestail, Canada thistle, common chickweed, hemp nettle, horsenettle, dandelion and henbit. It can be applied for burndown application after harvest or 30 days prior to planting corn in the spring.

“We have found that Autumn is a really good fit for winter annuals and dandelion in the Eastern Corn Belt,” says Bill Johnson, associate professor of weed science, Purdue University. “We’ve had pretty good luck with Autumn in controlling cress leaf groundsel, chickweed, henbit and purple deadnettle. Many of these plants are often controlled more effectively in the fall, becoming less responsive to herbicides in the spring once they have started to bloom and increase in size.”

Autumn is a useful addition to corn growers’ options in the Western Corn Belt, too. “In our research with Autumn last year, we observed good control of henbit and common chickweed with fall applications of Autumn,” says Kevin Bradley, weed scientist, University of Missouri–Columbia. Bradley studied the efficacy of Autumn in Missouri field trials. “Although we have not evaluated these weeds in our trials, other university researchers have also observed good field pennycress, shepherd’s-purse, purple deadnettle, marestail, and dandelion control with applications of Autumn plus 2, 4-D in the fall,” says Bradley.

With its limited residual, Autumn takes down emerged weeds and keeps them down prior to planting while allowing for crop rotation to corn. It also has an alternative mode of action to glyphosate which can help combat glyphosate-tolerant and resistant weeds.

“Autumn is really dynamite for fall use in front of corn,” says Brent Philbrook, Product Development Manager, Bayer CropScience. “Autumn is flexible with various tankmixing partners and offers a residual component that a glyphosate or 2, 4D does not bring to the table. This is an alternative to using one more glyphosate application. It gives corn and soybean growers a new tool in the toolbox for effective burndown of existing vegetation after fall harvest.”

It is also good insurance against a mild winter. “With the limited snow cover in the Eastern corn belt last winter, black cutworm moths migrated earlier, then laid their eggs in green weed tissue where there is usually snow. As a result, cutworm larvae thrived,” Philbrook explains. “A burndown application of Autumn after harvest could have prevented the problems that corn seedlings faced in the spring in Ohio, Indiana and other Eastern cornbelt states because the larvae that overwintered in the weeds were already too large.”

Bayer CropScience LP is the U.S. business of Bayer CropScience, which has its global headquarters in Monheim, Germany. Bayer CropScience, a subsidiary of Bayer AG with annual sales of about EUR 6 billion, is one of the world’s leading innovative crop science companies in the areas of crop protection, non-agricultural pest control, seeds and plant biotechnology. The company offers an outstanding range of products and extensive service backup for modern, sustainable agriculture and for non-agricultural applications. Bayer CropScience has a global workforce of about 19,000 and is represented in more than 120 countries, ensuring proximity to dealers and consumers.