Chemical Care: An Herbicide Bows Out
chemical care
An
Herbicide
Bows Out
Cocklebur,
one of the weeds
controlled by
MSMA
BY CINDY RATCLIFF
How the loss of MSMA means more
emphasis on pre-emergence control of
weeds until a new alternative emerges.
f
or half a century, turfgrass managers have
turned to monosodium
methanearsonate (MSMA)
as the post-emergence
herbicide solution for some of
their most challenging weed
problems. So when the EPA
cancelled the registration of
MSMA for agricultural crops, including turfgrass, in 2009, it left a need
for alternative products and management
strategies that yield the same control.
Subsequently, managing hard-tocontrol weeds, such as dallisgrass,
goosegrass and crabgrass, without MSMA
proved more difficult, especially on
warm-season turf grasses. While there are
products offering good efficacy against
the same weeds targeted by MSMA, they
generally require more than one application and are more expensive.
April 2012 / TOTAL LANDSCAPE CARE 43