The South Dakota Department of Agriculture is reminding farmers and applicators of the June 30th cut off date for dicamba products.
That’s despite requests for exemptions on spraying the herbicide.
Dicamba is an effective herbicide, but volatile in warm temperatures and can vaporize. In windy states like South Dakota, that drift can reach a neighboring farmer’s crop that’s not dicamba resistant… which can lead to cupped soybean leaves.
The state department of agriculture obtained special local needs registration labels from the United State EPA for three herbicides containing dicamba. Those labels establish June 30th as the cut off for applications of those products.
Applicators can use Engenia, Fexapan and Xtendimax with VaproGrip Technology until soybean reach the R1 growth stage, which is 45 days after planting. Or June 30, whichever comes first.
According to the latest crop report, 70 percent of soybeans are planted, with 36 percent emerged. That’s well behind the 89 percent emerged last year.
Tom Gere is the assistant director of the agricultural services division at the South Dakota Department of Ag. He says weather this has complicated dicamba application this season.
“We’ve had a few calls into the office here in regards to extending the cutoff date,” Gere says. “We’re sticking to our original plan as far as June 30th being the last day you can apply the products. We understand that there’s been delayed planting because of the wet weather we’ve had this spring, basically the way May turned out.”
Secretary of the Department of Ag, Kim Vanneman, says the cutoff date for dicamba is based on data that points to increased risk of drift after July 1st.