New rules for dicamba, paraquat taking effect

    In response to safety concerns, the Environmental Protection Agency has imposed additional restrictions on the use of several herbicides that are in place for the 2019 growing season or will begin to take effect later this year.
    The herbicides affected are certain formulations of dicamba and all formulations of paraquat. While this shouldn’t have a major effect in Colorado, it is best to keep these changes in mind ahead of time if they might affect you. A brief summary of the new restrictions follows.
    
Dicamba
    Issues with off-target damage to crops and gardens from the formulations of dicamba registered for use in Monsanto Xtendimax soybeans (now owned by Bayer) continued in 2018. This resulted in the EPA imposing additional use restrictions and training requirements on the use of these formulations in RoundupReady2Xtend soybean varieties for 2019. The only dicamba formulations affected by the rules are Xtendimax (Bayer), FeXapan (DuPont) and Engenia (BASF). Very few Colorado growers are likely to be affected, but if you plan to grow Xtendimax soybeans, you should know about the new rules well in advance. Further information on the training and use requirements should be available from your chemical dealer, or local Extension office.
    All other formulations of dicamba remain unaffected by the new rules, and can be used as usual.

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