Clean up your act by ridding yourself of cleavers

If cleavers are the usual suspects in your field, cut them down with these tips

Cleavers aren’t an issue through all of western Canada, but they are becoming more common and tougher to control. Cleavers typically germinate in spring, but they can also overwinter as a winter annual. Liberty^® in-crop isn’t the strongest on cleavers so you’ll want to avoid relying on it alone. Luckily, for both pre-seed and in-crop, we have recently received more chemical options for controI. I personally like to start clean and stay clean. If in-crop is needed it is much easier to control smaller seedlings.

Cleaver seeds are very tough to separate from canola as they are both round and relatively similar in size. If you are one of the unlucky ones who get to manage this weed, we now have three products for pre-seed application and one in-crop product

Command^® 360 ME is a strong option to help get your crop off to a clean start. It is a pre-emergent product within the unique chemical group 13. Command^® 360 ME can be tank-mixed with glyphosate. Keep in mind there are a few restrictions and always check the label before using. Command requires a 5 to 10 mm rain after application to become activated.

Prospect, new in 2021, is a pre-seed add-in from Corteva. It is a group 4 and 14 that you can add with glyphosate to spray in front of canola. It is able to control spring germinated and overwintered cleavers up to bud stage or 25cm in height

Certitude, new in 2021, is a pre-seed add-in from BASF. It is a group 6 and 27 that you can add with glyphosate to spray in front of canola. This product will be able to control cleavers up to the 4 whorl stage.

Facet L is a newer chemical that we can add to Liberty^® in-crop for Liberty tolerant canola. It is a group 4 chemistry with the active ingredient, Quinclorac, which has both contact and systemics qualities. This will control cleavers from the 1-6 whorl stage which is quite impressive

Your crop is at its highest potential the moment that seed is planted. Depending on your weed spectrum, these are excellent options to be able to give your InVigor^® canola the best chance for success.

Always read and follow herbicide label directions. Liberty® and InVigor® are trademarks of BASF Corporation used under license. Command® 360 ME is a registered trademark of FMC of Canada.