“We can't control Mother Nature. We can't control moisture, and we can't control temperature. But we can help control the crop’s competition for nutrients and moisture, and that will start the growing season off well,” says Will Griffin, row crop segment manager for Valent U.S.A.

Starting the growing season with a strong preemergence herbicide tank mix helps manage the variables growers can control. For corn production, adding a herbicide, like Maverick^® Corn Herbicide, to your preemergence tank mix ensures a clean start while also protecting your investment in seed and fertilizer.

Ensuring a preemergence herbicide is keeping weeds in check is especially critical if Mother Nature throws growers a curveball and planting is delayed.

“Getting a preemergence herbicide down gives you the flexibility to drop in and start planting as soon as you can get in the field,” Griffin says.  “Flexibility is the key word just when you're working with your agronomist, retail agronomist or crop consultant. Have the conversation about what provides you the flexibility to drop in and plant at the optimum time.”

With three effective modes of action, Maverick^® Corn Herbicide offers flexible application timing from preplant (PPI) up to 18-inch corn to control a broad spectrum of weeds, including Palmer amaranth, waterhemp and annual grasses. Maverick also offers low use rates for easy in-field handling and mixing and excellent compatibility with atrazine.

“The biggest investments producers make are in fertilizer and seeds,” Griffin says. “The more that we can do to protect those two major investments from a preemergence perspective, the more that crop has the opportunity to come out of the ground without weed competition.”

As the growing season progresses, it is important to continue that competitive mindset with a postemergence herbicide application that overlaps residual activity.

That’s when adding Perpetuo^® Herbicide helps strengthen and lengthen the weed control achieved with preemergence herbicide treatments.

Perpetuo offers postemergence and residual weed control, delivering both burndown control of emerged weeds and residual control to stop weeds from emerging. Perpetuo tackles the tail end of the long germination windows of Palmer amaranth and waterhemp to help growers keep fields clean.

Minimizing in-season weed competition may also increase harvest efficiency come harvest time and potentially reduce weed seed, improving the grade of your harvested crop.

And a clean crop at harvest continues to pay dividends as you look forward to the next season.

“If that crop is clean when you harvest, nine times out of 10 it's going to be clean as we get into the winter season, which reduces weed pressure going into the next season,” Griffin says.

For more information about Valent corn herbicides, visit https://valent.com/corn, or contact your local retailer.

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