Welcome to the latest edition of the Life Scientific Newsletter.
It’s hard to believe that September is here already and we at Life Scientific hope that all our customers have had a successful and safe harvest, following a very challenging year.
In the crop year of 2023/2024, we conducted more field trials than ever before, including powdery mildew and yellow rust control with our recent fungicide introductions such as FLEXURE (containing prothioconazole and spiroxamine) and investigated application and performance of products including our unique combination of prothioconazole and metconazole – LS PROMET.
We will continue to share results from all our trials to help you use our products in the best ways possible.
In this edition of the Newsletter we are introducing our newest addition to the Life Scientific product range for Ireland – RIBER.
RIBER – new for 2024
RIBER is a broad-spectrum herbicide containing 400 g/L flufenacet and 200 g/L diflufenican and is a reverse-engineered formulation based on Firebird.
RIBER is a contact and residual herbicide mixture for control of annual meadow-grass and broad-leaved weeds in all varieties of winter wheat and winter barley and can be applied pre- or post-emergence of weeds and crop.
On 2nd October 2023, Teagasc reported on their website that annual meadow-grass is showing more resistance to herbicides, and that ALS resistant annual meadow-grass has been found in Ireland. Effective control of the weed requires a good integrated strategy and, where chemical control is used, the Teagasc website states, “Residual herbicides applied at full rates as pre-emergence or early post-emergence is the most effective way to control annual meadow-grass.” It advises using, “stacked or tank-mix flufenacet or pendimethalin-based products no later than when plants have 1-3 leaves emerged.”
In addition to the annual meadow-grass control from flufenacet, RIBER also contains diflufenican (DFF) which has activity against the weed, as well as giving good broad-leaved weed control.
The combination of active ingredients from two different herbicide groups (Herbicide Resistance Action Committee groups 12 and 15) makes RIBER ideal as a foundation for your winter wheat and barley weed control programmes.
One application of RIBER should be applied to winter wheat or winter barley before 31st December in the year of drilling and winter wheat should be treated before the 3rd tiller stage (GS23) whilst winter barley should be treated before the 4th tiller stage (GS24).
A dose of 0.3 L/ha RIBER should be applied as a MEDIUM spray as defined by BCPC in a water volume of 200 – 400 L/ha using a spray pressure of at least 2 bar. Use the water volume at the higher end of the range where weed foliage or crop cover are dense.
Speed of activity is dependent upon the conditions in the treated field. Some soil moisture is required to activate the herbicide and light rain within 7 days of application gives the best control. If the soil is dry, then residual activity will be limited, and cold weather will delay the appearance of herbicide effects.
Weed control
RIBER has a broad spectrum of activity including annual meadow-grass and a range of key broad-leaved weeds.
S = Susceptible; MS = Moderately Susceptible; MR = Moderately Resistant.
* Levels of control of volunteer oilseed rape can be variable. In particular, strongly established volunteers (especially those beyond the 2 leaf stage) may survive and require a follow-up treatment with an appropriate post-emergence herbicide.
** Useful levels of cleaver control can be achieved, but a follow-up treatment with a specific cleaver herbicide may be required in some situations.
Broad-leaved weeds growing from root fragments and established perennial grasses will not be controlled.
Effective weed control requires that all surface trash and straw is buried during seedbed preparation and, when applied pre-emergence of the crop, the seed must be covered by at least 32mm of settled soil.
After application, the soil surface should remain undisturbed so do not harrow or roll and do not incorporate the herbicide.
For all information on product use and restrictions read the product label and visit the Life Scientific website.
