Things to know about Alion:<\/strong><\/p>\nAlion controls exclusively annual weed species, so don\u2019t expect the product to remove the tough perennial weeds commonly found in berry crops (Canada thistle, horsetail, quackgrass, etc.). Broadleaf weed species controlled by Alion include common chickweed, common groundsel, mallow, wild mustard, pigweed, purslane, shepherd\u2019s-purse, annual sowthistle, and willowherb. Additionally, it suppresses wild buckwheat, henbit, wild carrot, and common lambsquarters. Grasses controlled include barnyardgrass, annual bluegrass, crabgrass, and Italian ryegrass. Central Washington growers will be pleased to note that Alion will also control downy brome (cheatgrass) and the foxtails.<\/p>\n
* Alion is very much a preemergence herbicide. In fact, if the weed seed has sprouted but not yet emerged from the soil at the time of application, Alion won\u2019t control it. A trial I conducted in established strawberry in 2012 resulted in poor control of several weed species that the herbicide should have controlled. We determined that the reason for this was we had appreciable seed germination occur by the time the herbicide was applied. So if you have emerged weeds where you want to use Alion, you\u2019ll need to kill them with a different herbicide (usually something like paraquat or glyphosate).<\/p>\n
* The Alion label specifies that it be used only on caneberry or blueberry plantings that are at least one year old. In addition, the manufacturer stipulates that \u201cexposed roots, open channels, or depressions in the soil\u201d not be treated to avoid direct contact of the herbicide to crop roots.<\/p>\n
* Soil type and organic matter content are important considerations with this product. While it doesn\u2019t seem to be susceptible to leaching in typical soil, note that the label does not allow the herbicide to be used on soils with 20% or greater gravel content or on sand. The lower rate of Alion (3.5 fl.oz\/broadcast acre) should be used when soil organic matter is less than 1%. The higher rate (up to 5 fl.oz\/broadcast acre) can be used if soil organic matter exceeds 1%.<\/p>\n
* Alion should be applied from late fall until bud swell in berry crops. Green stems, foliage, and flowers should not be directly treated.<\/p>\n
* We don\u2019t really know how Alion applied annually will affect berry crops. I\u2019ve done single-year applications to both raspberry and blueberry and find good selectivity in both crops. I currently have blueberry plots out at five locations in the state that will receive their second Alion application this February (the first was applied in February, 2017). So I should get a good read of this aspect of Alion this year.<\/p>\n
* If you are thinking about treating a raspberry field that will be taken out after harvest this year, I\u2019d suggest not doing that. Alion\u2019s long soil residual may cause raspberry plants or plugs transplanted next year to have difficulty in establishing.<\/p>\n
On a related note, you may be asking \u201cWhat about strawberry?\u201d While Alion appears to be fairly selective in strawberry, Bayer has not proceeded with registration for this product. The reason? Most strawberries in the US are produced in an annual system, and Alion has too much carryover potential to use the herbicide in annual cropland. We are hopeful that we can eventually gain registration in perennial strawberry, but that registration has not yet occurred.<\/p>\n
Finally, don\u2019t forget that the Pacific Northwest Weed Management Handbook is available to you for tips on other herbicides registered for use in berry crops. You can find it online at https:\/\/pnwhandbooks.org\/weed\/horticultural\/small-fruits<\/a>.[\/textblock][\/column][\/row]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Volume 7 Issue 2 Tim Miller, Weed Scientist WSU Mount Vernon NWREC * Since this is a new herbicide registration in the US, it is likely that other nations may not yet have a Minimum…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":53,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_wsuwp_accessibility_report":[],"_external_link":"","_expiration_date":""},"categories":[7,14,21,25],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/extension.wsu.edu\/wam\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2759"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/extension.wsu.edu\/wam\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/extension.wsu.edu\/wam\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/extension.wsu.edu\/wam\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/53"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/extension.wsu.edu\/wam\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2759"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/extension.wsu.edu\/wam\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2759\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5778,"href":"https:\/\/extension.wsu.edu\/wam\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2759\/revisions\/5778"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/extension.wsu.edu\/wam\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2759"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/extension.wsu.edu\/wam\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2759"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/extension.wsu.edu\/wam\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2759"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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