Minnesota approves Bayer's Corvus and Balance Flexx herbicides

The Minnesota Department of Agriculture and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently registered the use of Corvus® (Thiencarbazone-methyl+Isoxaflutole) and Balance® Flexx (Isoxaflutole) herbicides in the state of Minnesota.

The availability of Corvus and Balance Flexx provides growers with new options for controlling weeds in Minnesota corn fields.

“We’re excited that Minnesota corn growers now have access to the No. 1 selective corn herbicide in the country,” said Jody Wynia, corn marketing manager for Bayer CropScience. “Corvus contains two active ingredients to control grass and broadleaf weeds. What growers will really find exciting about Corvus is that it provides three levels of defense against weeds: burndown, residual, and reactivation. Reactivation, in particular, is very unique to Corvus, and even Balance Flexx. Growers won’t find this type of late-season weed control with any other herbicides.”

Christoph Breitenstroeter, product manager for Bayer CropScience, explained what reactivation means for growers.

“During periods of dry weather, herbicides lose their effectiveness and weeds begin to break through,” Breitenstroeter said. “Corvus and Balance Flexx are unique because they reactivate after a dry spell and begin working again with a ½-inch of rain to control small weeds that may have emerged during extended periods of dry weather, providing another opportunity for weed control. Corvus and Balance Flexx are the only products on the market that utilize this technology.”

Corvus and Balance Flexx also contain Crop Safety Innovation (CSI™) Safener technology, which is exclusive to Bayer CropScience products. This safener has both soil and foliar uptake, making it active during both pre- and early post-emergence herbicide applications. This safener enables the plant to better withstand herbicidal activity, which leads to increased root growth and plant health.

“Corvus and Balance Flexx share a few characteristics, but they really have two different uses,” Breitenstroter added. “Corvus will work best for growers that run a corn and soybean crop rotation. Balance Flexx has a different profile for rotating to other crops, making it a good fit for growers with a rotation that includes specialty crops, such as dry beans, sugar beets or potatoes.”

Unlike a number of Midwest and Plains states, which recently began seeing significant levels of resistant weeds, Minnesota has been managing resistant waterhemp and giant ragweed since 2008. Using multiple modes of action during both the growing season and from year to year will help manage and prevent further weed resistance from developing. The availability of Corvus and Balance Flexx offers Minnesota growers two new choices in the fight against resistant weeds. Tankmix Corvus with atrazine and another herbicide such as 2,4-D, Autumn™, Autumn™ Super, DiFlexx™, Liberty® or a glyphosate-based herbicide to have four modes in one tankmix.

With an application rate of just 5.6 oz/A, Corvus delivers broad-spectrum control of more than 65 grass and broadleaf weeds, including those resistant to glyphosate, ALS, PPO and triazine herbicides. Corvus offers burndown control to take out early weeds, residual activity prevents new weeds and reactivation gets late weeds.

Balance Flexx pre-emergence corn herbicide protects yields from the start by providing tough, broad-spectrum weed control on contact and then reactivating to kill late-emerging weeds. Balance Flexx is the ideal pre-emergence herbicide for all corn varieties in sandy soil, including ALS sensitive hybrids, and offers flexible crop rotation.

Corvus and Balance Flexx can be applied south of I-94 in Minnesota, with the exception of Dakota, Dodge, Fillmore, Goodhue, Houston, Mower, Olmsted, Rice, Wabasha and Winona counties.