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Valent U.S.A. Corporation News
April 8, 2005
BroadStar™ and SureGuard™ Herbicides
Receive New York Registration
Products Bring First New Herbicide to Nursery Market in Over a
Decade
WALNUT CREEK, Calif. (April 8, 2005) - Finally, New York nursery
growers have a new generation of herbicides that provide broad-spectrum
control and unsurpassed residual activity on problem weeds in
containerized and field-grown ornamentals. BroadStar™ and
SureGuard™ Herbicides will provide growers with long-lasting,
preemergent control of annual broadleaf weeds and grasses.
Both the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
and the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation
(DEC) have registered BroadStar and SureGuard herbicides, marketed
by Valent Professional Products. The active
ingredient in the newly registered herbicides is flumioxazin,
a PPO inhibitor with a different mode of action than currently
registered products. Valent market manager David Frye said this
makes BroadStar and SureGuard great tools to manage herbicide
resistance.
"Growers put a lot of time and effort into their crops,
and this new class of chemistry helps ensure they will be able
to ship a better product," Frye said. "BroadStar and
SureGuard provide growers the ability to keep their ornamental
crops weed-free.
"BroadStar is a granular herbicide that provides excellent
control of summer and winter annual broadleaf weeds and grasses
that growers most commonly confront, including spurge, bittercress,
oxalis, chickweed, groundsel and crabgrass. The product also fights
certain problem weeds more effectively than other herbicides,
including liverwort and eclipta.
Besides providing growers with a broader weed control spectrum,
BroadStar also controls weeds for at least eight to 12 weeks after
application. It can be safely applied over the top of most woody
ornamental shrubs and trees, both containerized and field grown,
and the herbicide does not prune the roots of sensitive plants.
BroadStar's dense, dust-free granules make it more wind resistant
than other products and less likely to adhere to foliage. This
feature improves uniformity of application and decreases the potential
for plant injury, which means less weeds and healthier looking
ornamentals. Its granules also have a thin safety coating that
minimizes herbicide release prior to irrigation, thus reducing
the potential for plant injury if it is inadvertently applied
to wet foliage.
"Ornamental growers are going to like BroadStar's superior
formulation compared to other granular herbicides," said
Jason Fausey, field market development specialist for Valent Professional
Products. "With its broader weed-control spectrum and unsurpassed
residual activity, BroadStar is unlike anything else on the market."
SureGuard is a sprayable herbicide for use on field-grown ornamentals
and conifers, including Christmas trees. It effectively controls
numerous summer and winter annual weeds, including chickweed,
groundsel, lambsquarters, liverwort, dandelion, pigweed, and ragweed.
SureGuard's residual activity is typically four to six weeks longer
than current herbicides, and it can be tank mixed with glyphosate
for postemergent control of troublesome weeds and grasses.
SureGuard can be applied anytime prior to weed emergence, which
makes it a very flexible product. It is rainfast in one hour,
giving growers one less thing to worry about when applying.
Neither BroadStar nor SureGuard have exhibited any signs of volatility,
and both are non-restricted use products. This means that the
herbicides can be applied with fewer concerns about paperwork
or environmental hazards.
"BroadStar and SureGuard have an advantage from an environmental
standpoint because they reduce the amount of active ingredient
applied per acre by more than 85 percent," Fausey said. "While
other herbicides require 2 to 5 pounds of active ingredient per
acre, this new chemistry provides excellent weed control with
only 0.375 pounds of active ingredient per acre."
