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Feature Story
NEW SEASON COMES WITH NEW PRODUCTS By Devon Carroll and Jim Brosnan, Ph.D.
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new season often brings new technology to the turfgrass industry and 2020 is no exception. Six new herbicides are available to turfgrass managers in 2020 including Coastal, Cheetah Pro, Crew, GameOn, Manuscript, and Vexis. These products contain
active ingredients from seven mode-of-action groups with several combined in pre-packaged mixtures. A mode-of-action group indicates the physiological mechanism a herbicide uses to control weeds and can be easily identified on product labeling using the Weed Science Society of America (WSSA) group numbering system [e.g., dithiopyr (the active ingredient in Dimension) belongs to WSSA Group 3]. These new herbicides have been researched for several years at land-grant universities, such as the University of Tennessee, to determine how they can be optimally used to control weeds of cool- and warm-season turfgrass while minimizing environmental impact. This article will outline attributes of these new herbicides to aid turfgrass managers considering incorporating them into their weed management programs this year.
Coastal Coastal is a new herbicide mixture from Sipcam Agro that contains prodiamine (WSSA Group 3), imazaquin (WSSA Group 2), and simazine (WSSA Group 5). This mixture can be applied preemergence to control many grassy and broadleaf weeds including crabgrass (Digitaria spp), annual bluegrass (Poa annua), and goosegrass (Eleusine indica). Coastal is labeled for use in many turfgrass systems including golf courses, athletic fields, home lawns and sod farms; Coastal can be applied to several turfgrass species including bermudagrass (Cynodon spp.), zoysiagrass (Zoysia spp.), St. Augustinegrass (Stenotaphrum secundatum), and centipedegrass (Eremochloa ophiuroides) as well. Coastal offers early-postemergence control of several weed species, particularly annual bluegrass. Depending on geography, Coastal should be applied between September 15th and May 31st at rates of 48 to 64 fl oz/A. Researchers at the University of Tennessee observed 100% control of annual bluegrass 24 weeks after treatment of Coastal applied twice at
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