Brake Herbicide Brings Value...at a cost, quite a cost.
4-8 Brake can be a game changer, but is it worth it? Here are some benefits:
Brake is safe to cotton. Perhaps the safest residual product.
Low solubility – it takes a lot of water to activate but lasts longer.
Excellent Palmer, Spiney and Redroot pigweed control.
Good on Crabgrass and Goosegrass as well as cocklebur and tropic crotan.
At 21 ounces or more, it can reduce (but not eliminate) the need for in season weed control trips once it is activated. Also, it can reduce the need for a Dual/Warrant/Outlook (D/W/O) trip at 3 to 5 leaf stage because it is good on grass and excellent on palmer. [Some folks are concerned about the group 15 (D/W/O) scorch risk, but I have only seen it as a concern when you also add Liberty to the grp 15 herbicides on Extend varieties. For Enlist & Liberty Link varieties, Liberty plus D/W/O is just like Roundup plus D/W/O.]
Here are some challenges or hurdles:
Low solubility takes a lot of water to activate so needs a companion partner like Reflex in a palmer situation.
First - it is for farmers that have already moved to a preemergence program behind the planter and are looking to take it to the next level.
Cost is high at over $20 - $25/acre. That low rate of 16oz. is not going to bring all the benefits discussed in this blog either. It also needs to be paired with either Reflex, Warrant, or Cotoran so you are pushing $30
ONLY FAIR to Good on Ragweed. A lot of folks give it credit for ragweed, but it is the Cotoran in the tank mix that is giving Brake its good reputation for Ragweed.
When I put all this together, I am not seeing it on widespread acreage. Here are some situations that would find the most value:
Palmer Pigweed is the only weed Brake is rated excellent on. - The most benefit is with high palmer or resistant spiney pigweed sense those things keep coming up until you get complete shade. Warrant or Reflex would be needed with it to handle the early emerging weeds since it takes a while for the Brake to get activated.
Highly diversified operations benefit from reduced trips.
RAGWEED? I am not sold on it for Ragweed because it is only rated fair to good which means less than 80% control. Cotoran rated excellent is caring the load for preemergence on ragweed. Ragweed doesn’t seem to be as aggressive with later flushes, plus Liberty and the auxins are awesome on it. For ragweed, use 1.5 pints of Cotoran on light soil and 2 pints on soils with medium or better soil textures & organic matter. A pint of Cotoran by itself won’t last. D/W/O are poor on ragweed.
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