Dow AgroSciences Releases Warm-Season Grass Herbicide

"Lontrel is the new standard in turf safety and can be applied to lawns and fairways, alike," noted Scott Eicher, senior product manager. "Plus, it won’t harm sensitive southern turfgrasses like either Bermudagrass or St. Augustinegrass or cool-season turf."

Eicher said the company’s research with turfgrass professionals helped identify the need for a herbicide that wouldn’t burn the warm-season turf varieties.

Lontrel is a selective herbicide offering postemergent control of broadleaf weeds, such as clover, dandelion, black medic, thistle, plantain, the buckwheat family of weeds and the nightshade family of weeds.

The active ingredient in Lontrel is clopyralid, and weeds will absorb the product and translocate it throughout the plant system. This translocation should provide increased control by impacting the weed’s root as well.

The product has some landscape ornamental applications on its label, and the suggested re-entry period is 12 hours. Lontrel contains 3 pounds of active ingredient per gallon and is packaged in a 1-quart, tip-and-pour bottle. Recommended application rates vary from .25 to 1.33 pints per acre or up to .5 ounce per 1,000 square feet. For more information on Lontrel, e-mail Dow AgroSciences at info@dowagro.com or call 800/263-1196.

Eicher also mentioned that the company is still awaiting comments and analysis from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regarding the reevaluation of chlorpyrifos, which is the active ingredient in its popular insecticide Dursban. EPA was supposed to communicate its findings based on the public comment period by March 31, but Dow AgroSciences has yet to receive those comments.