GROWERS have more options when it comes to fighting weeds, with the release of three new herbicides just in time for this year's growing season.
Two new pre-emergents, named Callisto and Luximax and one new post-emergent, Frequency, were recently released onto the market.
Details on the three new herbicides was presented by Elders agronomist Clare Johnston at the Liebe Group Crop Updates at Dalwallinu last Wednesday.
Callisto, made by Sygenta, is a new pre-emergent of broadleaves in wheat and barley.
Ms Johnston said Callisto had long residual control and was absorbed primarily through roots and shoots.
"It's got good control of wild radish and capeweed, as well as suppression of volunteer lupins, so it's handy in that rotation if growers are wanting to avoid other chemistries," Ms Johnston said.
"It's standalone Group H, so it needs to be followed up with a post-emergent spray, which isn't Group H, because you won't be getting those weeds in the furrow and any escapees need to be controlled to prevent resistance to such a key herbicide group.
"Callisto will fit well in problem paddocks which growers are struggling to get back to spray in time, so they can get the weeds before they're big and make sure the follow-up spray is also before they're too big."
Luximax is also a pre-emergent, this time produced by BASF, for control of grasses in wheat.
Ms Johnston said Luximax was good for control of ryegrass and suppression of brome grass and wild oats.
"It's a new mode of action, so it will kill populations that are resistant to current modes of action and is a new pathway to killing unwanted grasses," she said.
"However it does need at least three centimetre separation from the seed otherwise there will be crop effects, such as less germination.
"This will be great for targeting bad grassy paddocks that Trifluralin might be failing in, so growers need a heftier option and something that has good residual control as well."
The last new release is Frequency, a post-emergent from BASF for control of broadleaf weeds in wheat and barley.
Ms Johnston said like Callisto, Frequency was also a standalone Group H product.
"It must be mixed with another broadleaf herbicide and there is a range which you could use," she said.
"In our trial, the addition of a litre of Bromoxynil 200 did a really good job on the troublesome population of radish."
Ms Johnston said it was exciting to see three new herbicides enter the market as it had been a few years since that many products were released at the same time.
"It gives farmers the ability to mix up their chemistries, target those problem paddocks and bring them back to being manageable," she said.
"Within the next two years, we'll have even more new herbicides released, some of which are new modes of action which will give confidence in the ability to control populations of weeds well into the future."