As we prepare for another year with the Xtend soybean system, we thought it would help to briefly summarize some of the most important things we've learned about dicamba as a result of research our outstanding graduate students have conducted during the past several seasons.

 

1. Dicamba can be detected in the air following treatment.

 

This isn't really any grand new finding; we've seen this trend in graduate student Shea Farrell's research for the past two seasons. But Farrell is now finished with all his experiments, and his results clearly show concentrations of dicamba can be detected in the air following on-label applications of approved dicamba products (Xtendimax, Engenia and Fexapan).

 

In other words, there is volatility of these herbicides. The real questions the industry should be asking are: How much volatility results in off-target injury, and can we do anything to minimize it?

 

Shea's results have also shown that highest dicamba air concentrations occur within the first eight hours or so after application. He has also found that higher dicamba air concentrations will occur if applications are made in the evening during stable conditions that favor temperature inversions compared to applications made during the day in unstable, noninversion conditions.

 

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