New option for weed control

GREENSBORO, N.C. — A preemergent herbicide with three sites of action received a full rollout into the marketplace this year and was highlighted at the Farm Progress Show.

Syngenta Crop Protection’s Tendovo herbicide is compatible with any soybean system and any soil type, according to Jonathan Furasek, soybean product marketing lead for herbicides.

“We received registration on Tendovo in 2022. We had a limited launch in 2022 and 2023 was really its first full-scale launch year,” Furasek said.

“During our first limited launch year in 2022 we partnered with growers and retailers around soybean growing areas in the U.S. and had about 200,000 acres in our first-look program.”

The preemergent residual herbicide for soybeans has three sites of action with the active ingredients S-metolachlor, Metribuzin and Cloransulam-methyl.

“It controls more than 70 weeds. Those include your usual suspects such as small-seeded broadleaf like waterhemp that keep a lot of people up at night and Palmer amaranth,” Furasek said.

“It also picks up larger seed broadleaf with that Cloransulam-methyl component. That’s your ragweed species, morning glories and cocklebur that can be a problem, as well.”

Early Control

Tendovo touts extended residual activity for early weed control in soybeans.

“With the robust rate structure of this premix, we get up to five weeks of residual that really allow us to get in there with a timely post-application on whatever post trait system the grower may be on,” Furasek said.

“We feel confident in our testing that it will carryout for five weeks because we do have that enhanced rate of Dual with the S-metolachlor which is really the main residual feature of Tendovo.

“There are no restrictions. You just apply preemergent. If you’re on no-till, add your burndown herbicide of choice with it, whether that’s glyphosate or paraquat or whatnot. So, it provides a lot of flexibility for that, and since it is a preemergent residual it will cover the trait systems that are out there.”

Furasek was asked what makes this product unique in the marketplace.

“I would say the weed control in itself is not unique. There’s a lot of great herbicides that are in the market or they wouldn’t be in the market if they didn’t control weeds. But we find that farmers plant earlier and normally it’s cooler and it’s wetter and crop safety becomes and issue,” he said.

“Tendovo provides really outstanding crop safety. We found in our trials with growers there’s no soybean setback and the soybeans get off to a good start.

“We don’t need chemistries out there when we’re planting in those soils that are going to thin our stands out or hold the crop back. We need it to get a fast start and get to canopy. Seed can be a costly input investment for growers nowadays, so we want to maximize the population that they have out there.

“It’s like when we’re sick and not up to our full potential, we want our crop to live up to its full potential, as well.”

Herbicide-resistant weeds continue to be a growing concern for farmers in all geographies, and Furasek said Tendovo can be part of that management plan.

“It is a problem, especially with waterhemp around here. I do understand it is a main concern because if we fall behind that weed with just the biology of that weed it grows so fast and produces so many seeds that we could get setback for years,” he said.

“So, the importance of putting on a timely robust preresidual before we get out there and before the soybeans come up is important. It’s also not new to Syngenta’s message. We want to come out there timely with a post-application and ultimately overlap that residual with another residual containing products to extend it out and get us a canopy.”