- Looking ahead to the autumn and establishing new crops is always a time for a fresh approach and optimism on farm
- However, this season growers have the pressure of unprecedented market volatility causing much higher priced inputs, as they look to the most cost-effective options for profitable crop management
Producing the very highest quality and cost-effective crop protection products that provide growers with the tools they need to farm profitably, has always been the ethos of leading off-patent manufacturer Life Scientific, says country manager for the UK and Ireland, Ruth Stanley.
“So we are delighted to announce that from this autumn, growers will be able to use a newly approved dose rate of our grass and broad leaved weed herbicide Firestarter in winter wheat and barley. This new dose rate allows for Firestarter to be used as a follow-up post emergence treatment at 0.3l/ha, in addition to its existing pre- emergence use of 0.6l/ha,” she says.
Firestarter is a herbicide for grass and broad leaved weed control containing 400g/l flufenacet and 100g/l diflufenican in line with its reference product Liberator.
As with all of the products available from Life Scientific, Firestarter is produced through the unique process of reverse engineering – the ability to manufacture a product that is accepted as the same as that of the reference product by the regulatory authority.
Mrs Stanley explains that this exciting approval broadens the choice for autumn weed control programmes and costs.
“Firestarter can be used as a follow up treatment to Luximo, the new pre-emergence herbicide, as a cost- effective follow up, or it can be used in an alternative product stack or on its own as both a pre and post-emergence treatment.”
“However, it’s important to note that where Firestarter is applied twice in sequence and the total dose is 0.9l/ha, the first application must be made before GS 14 of the crop, leaving a minimum interval of 6 weeks between applications,” she says.
Firestarter has also been approved for use in spring barley at 0.3l/ha at a pre-emergence timing.
