30th March 2007

Tuberon – a flexible residual potato herbicide

With potato planting well underway in most parts of the country, Interfarm UK is now supplying the residual herbicide Tuberon for pre and post-emergence use in early and maincrop potatoes.

“Containing metribuzin formulated as a 480 g/l user-friendly suspension concentrate, Tuberon will control both annual grasses and broad-leaved weeds. It is active on a wide range of weeds including charlock, chickweed, dead-nettle, fat-hen, forget-me-not, fumitory, hemp-nettle, knotgrass, mayweeds, field pansy, poppy and redshank as well as black-grass and annual meadow-grass,” advises Dr. David Stormonth, Technical Manager, Interfarm (UK) Ltd.

“Weed competition in potatoes has an adverse effect on yield and can also have an adverse impact on harvesting. So it is important to keep the crop weed-free from planting until the foliage meets in the row. This is particularly so for those weed species that either smother the crop or are tall, such as fat-hen, knotgrass, fumitory, redshank and bindweed. But once again growers have a much more limited choice of herbicides as we have lost a number of herbicides such as Opogard, Batallion (terbutryn and terbuthylazine), Senate (terbutryn and cyanazine) and Arresin (monolinuron) in the last few years,” says David.

Tuberon offers an alternative source of the well-known active ingredient, metribuzin. “When using this product, most growers are aware of the need to vary rates of use with crop type and soil type. For instance a dose rate of 1 l/ha of Tuberon is suitable for earlies grown on very light or light soils. The 1.5 l/ha rate is used on main crops on these light soils and the 2.2 l/ha rate is for main crops on medium, heavy, organic and peaty soils. Most growers are also aware of the need to check their varieties. For instance most early and maincrop varieties on the label should be treated pre-emergence, but Maris Piper is treated post-emergence but not on light soils.”

“Tuberon is safe to use on many important potato varieties such as Maris Piper, Estima, Maris Peer, Marfona, Pentland Dell, King Edward, Nadine, Desiree, Charlotte, Wilja, Maris Bard, Cara, Record and Romano. The herbicide is absorbed predominantly through the roots, although there is limited contact activity through leaves. Being a liquid formulation it is helpful to the spray operator in terms of speed of mixing and spraying at a busy time of year,” says Dr. Stormonth.

Tuberon is approved as a selective herbicide for the pre-and post-emergence control of a wide range of annual grasses and broad-leaved weeds in most early and maincrop potatoes. It has recommended dose rates of 1.0, 1.5 and 2.2 l/ha, depending on soil type. Its latest time of application is before potato shoots reach 15 cms in length. Tuberon is packed in 5 litre pack.

For further comment and information, please contact Dr. David Stormonth, Technical Manager, Interfarm (UK) Ltd. on 01354 741414 or 07818 036506 (mobile).