EPA Approves Fourth Dicamba Option, Tavium, from Syngenta

This week the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) approved Syngenta’s Tavium Plus VaporGrip Technology herbicide. This is a group 4, dicamba, formulation premixed with S-metolachlor to provide residual control.

Tavium can be used preplant, at plant and early post-emergence on Roundup Ready 2 Xtend soybeans and Bollgard II XtendFlex cotton. The company says it offers control of key ALS-, PPO- and glyphosate-resistant broadleaf and grass weeds.

“Unlike all the other stand-alone dicamba products, the multiple effective sites of action in Tavium broaden the activity spectrum and increase its overall efficacy and sustainability,” said Bobby Bachman, herbicide product lead at Syngenta in a recent news release. “The addition of S-metolachlor with dicamba in a premix not only helps manage resistance, but it offers up to three weeks longer residual control than dicamba alone.”

Syngenta recommends farmers use Tavium in a two-pass program to preserve the efficacy of the herbicide. The system would follow a pre-emergence application of a herbicide.

“The premix formulation provides an easy way to reduce selection pressure on dicamba, but a system of pre- and post-emergence herbicides is still crucial,” Bachman said. “Practicing sound resistance management principles – such as starting clean and using diversified management and agronomic practices – will help growers be good stewards of the technology.”