During the rush of field work in May, one of the many activities to be performed is weeding of spring cereals. In oat cultivation, the selection of available herbicides is quite limited. We check what preparations can be used to combat weeds in oats and for how long.
What can you use to remove weeds from oats?
Oats are cereals cultivated more extensively, so the expenditure on field protection is usually low. Since this species is quite competitive with weeds, after a good forecrop and in a well-kept site, the weed infestation of oats is so small that herbicide protection can be completely omitted. In practice, however, oats quite often end up in more neglected fields and, due to their phytosanitary properties, they are sown after other cereals, which unfortunately favors weed infestation.
Compared to other spring cereal species, the range of herbicides registered for weed control in oats is quite limited. This is not only the result of the decline in the economic importance of this species. Oats may be sensitive to some active substances of herbicides, such as 2,4-D in the form of salt. The oat weed control list includes preparations with active substances – most often MCPA “solo” or in a factory mixture, tritosulfuron, dicamba, florasulam, tribenuron methyl, 2,4-D in the form of an ester and others. They can be used to control a number of dicotyledonous weeds, including cornflower, chamomiles and chamomiles, white quinoa, knotweed, field bundles, lilacs and common grasshopper. To combat troublesome species, such as bedstraw, it is worth using multi-component herbicides.
However, while we have options to choose among active substances for combating dicotyledonous weeds, the options for combating monocotyledonous weeds in oat cultivation are currently limited mainly to agrotechnical methods (site selection, rotation, sowing density) or mechanical methods such as harrowing or weeding. The effectiveness of such methods depends on a number of factors and may be variable, therefore, without appropriate chemical preparations in the register, in practice the occurrence of weeds such as deaf oats, one-sided weed, trichinella or red fingerlings may be problematic in oat cultivation.
The tillering phase is crucial in herbicide protection
The state of oat vegetation on plantations throughout the country varies, because the sowing period was wide. Wherever possible, oats were placed in the soil already in February. However, in some places, field conditions allowed for sowing much later, in the second half of March or in April. Before applying a specific plant protection product, you should check what development phase the plants are currently in.
In the case of oats, most herbicides are approved for use from the second-fourth leaf stage (BBCH 12/14) to the full or end of tillering (BBCH 25/29). Some preparations can be applied only from the tillering phase (BBCH 21). “Latecomers” also have a choice of herbicides that can be applied after shooting the blade, even up to the flag leaf stage (BBCH 39).
Herbicides for the protection of oats
Below we present selected herbicides registered for weed control in oat cultivation. We would like to remind you that before using plant protection products, read their labels carefully and follow their recommendations.
| The active substance | Herbicide example | Date of application | Dose |
| Single-component herbicides | |||
| MCPA 300 g | Chwastox Extra 300 SL, Lider 300 SL, Premier 300 SL | from the beginning of the tillering phase to the end of the tillering phase | 3 l/ha |
| MCPA 500 g | Agritox 500 SL, Chwastox 500 SL, Premier 500 SL | from the beginning of the tillering phase to the end of the tillering phase or from the three branching phase to the end of the second branching phase* | 1.1-1.5 l/ha |
| MCPA 750 g | Chwastox 750 SL, Dicoherb 750 SL, Lider 750 SL | from the fourth leaf phase to the end of tillering or from the beginning to the end of tillering* | 0.75 l/ha |
| flowers | Saracen 050 SC, Upton 050 SC | from the third leaf stage to the second elbow or fully developed flag leaf stage | 0.08 – 0.1 l/ha |
| fluroksypyr 200 g | Tomahawk 200 EC | from the beginning of tillering to the second branch stage | 0.9 l/ha |
| fluroksypyr 333 g | Starane 333 EC | from the beginning of the tillering phase to the second branch phase | 0.54 l/ha |
| fluroksypyr 400 g | Flurostar Forte | from the beginning to the end of the tillering phase or until the flag leaf phase | 0.5 l/ha |
| Two-component herbicides | |||
| MCPA + leads | Agritox Turbo 750 SL, Chwastox D 179 SL, Chwastox Turbo 340 SL, Nutox Turbo 750 SL | from the beginning to the end of the cereal tillering phase | 1-4.5 l/ha* |
| tritosulfuron + dicamba | Jatagan 75 WG, Mocarz 75 WG, Nokaut 75 WG, Mocarz Duo 75 WG | from the 3 leaf phase to the full tillering phase | 0.2 kg/ha |
| tritosulfuron + florasulam | Biathlon 4D, Bresser 4D | from the third leaf stage to the end of the fully developed flag leaf stage | 0.04 – 0.07 kg/ha |
| 2,4-D + florasulam | Centaur 306 SE, Konik 306 SE, Pony 306 SE | from the 2-3 leaf phase to the second leaf phase | 0.4-0.6 l/ha |
| 2,4-D + fluroksypyr | Gold 450 EC | from the 3 leaf phase to the first leaf phase | 1- 1.25 l/ha |
| florasulam + fluroksypyr | Clyde FX, Orpen 102 SE, Valentia 102 SE | from the third leaf stage or from the third branching stage to the first branch stage* | 1.2-1.6 l/ha |
| florasulam + tribenuron methyl | Flame Duo 354 SG, Puro Maxx, Tercero Duo 354 SG | from the third branching phase to the end of the fully developed flag leaf phase | 40-60 g/ha |
| thifensulfuron methyl + metsulfuron methyl | Concert SX 44 SG | from the 3rd leaf stage to end of the tillering phase |
100 g/ha |
| fluroxypyr + thifensulfuron-methyl | Centers LQM | from the second leaf stage to the fully developed flag leaf stage | 0.5 – 1 l/ha |
| MCPA + methyl tribenuron | Haksar+, Haksar Top 565 SG | from the third leaf stage to the fully developed flag leaf stage | 1 kg/ha |
| bensulfuron methyl + metsulfuron methyl | Walk, Xanadu | from the third leaf stage to the fully developed flag leaf stage | 100 g/ha |
| Three-component herbicides | |||
| MCPA+mecoprop-P + dicamba |
Chwastox Trio 540 SL, Chwastox New Trio 390 SL | from the beginning of the cereal tillering phase to its end | 1.5 l/ha |
| florasulam+aminopyralid+2,4-D | Kantor Forte 195 SE, Mustang Forte 195 SE | from the phase of 4 true leaves to the phase of the second leaf of cereals | 0.8 l/ha |
|
fluroxypyr+tifensulfuron-methyl+metsulfuron-methyl
|
All LQM | from the second leaf stage to the fully developed flag leaf stage | 0.5-1.0 l/ha |
* – depending on the plant protection product in question
– .
