I see a good bit of clean cotton out there so that must mean that the majority of you are being timely with your herbicide sprays. When cotton starts getting taller and bushing out its difficult to spray over the top and still maintain good weed control. You run the risk of injuring your cotton and you need a lot of pressure to blast it down through the canopy to the weeds below. Layby or hooded sprayers are our best bet in this situation. I understand that not everyone has a layby or hood rig but I will say that it could make your life a little easier. Here are a few of our better layby combinations.
- Diuron + MSMA -Best for glyphosate-resistant Palmer Amaranth
- Cotton needs to be at least 12″ tall and crop oil concentrate is strongly recommended
- Add Envoke for morning glory control
- Add Dual, Warrant, or Zidua for spiderwort control
- Roundup + Diuron – Best for grasses and Palmer Amaranth
- Use 1 pt/A of diuron on cotton 8-12” and up to 1.5 pt/A of diuron on cotton greater than 12”
- Add Envoke for morning glory control
- Add Dual, Warrant, or Zidua for spiderwort control
Engenia, FeXapan, and XtendiMax are now approved for Layby Directed and Hooded Row Middle Applications
- Applicators must have attended (and registered) 2019 Using Pesticide Wisely training and must be a certified applicator.
- Each applicator must have the label of the product they decide to use in their possession during the application. Labels can be obtained at the GDA web site: https://agr.georgia.gov/24c.aspx. Once on the website, click “go to dicamba page”; then select the “24C label” for the product of choice. These labels will provide detailed information needed to make a proper application.
- Hooded applications: May use any standard spray tip as long as droplets are coarse or larger in size (>341 microns VMD50). Hoods must remain in contact with soil while making the application. A maximum of 6 mph sprayer speed. Tolerant cotton or soybeans must be at least 15 inches in height at time of application.
- Directed Layby applications: May use any standard spray tip as long as droplets are coarse or larger in size (>341 microns VMD50). Spray release point must not be more than 10 inches from the soil and the cotton or soybean must be at least 20 inches in height. Spray tip must be angled downward toward the soil making sure no spray droplets remain in the air. A maximum of 6 mph sprayer speed is required.
- Engenia, FeXapan, and XtendiMax can be mixed with any other labeled cotton or soybean herbicides approved on the manufactures websites (www.engeniatankmix.com; www.xtendimaxapplicationrequirements.com; https://www.corteva.us/products-and-solutions/crop-protection/fexapan.html).
- Do not tank-mix with AMS or glufosinate products (Liberty, etc.)
- Do hood or layby applications reduce the buffer requirements currently required for topical applications? NO!
- Do hood or layby applications increase the application window for these dicamba formulations? Yes. Hooded or directed applications can be made in-crop up until 7 days pre-harvest for cotton and up to beginning bloom in soybean.