Weeds Becoming Roundup Resistant

[cigaretteman]

Study Finds Benefits in Modified Crops but Warns of Overuse - NYTimes.com

[FarminCy]

We've known this for years. That is why most of us use multiple actions of herbicides instead of just spraying round up like most people think. When it comes to ag stories in papers like the NY times etc they are normally about 5-7 years behind when the info was actually new in the farming community.

Still not nearly as big of an issue as what the article makes it out to be. Some plants are naturally tough to kill with round-up (glyphosate) and most farmers are aware of what fields have a certain plant spectrum that may be tougher to kill with a lower rate. Nice to see an article actually show the truth that chemical use has gone down with the introduction of biotech corn and beans.

[ISUAgronomist]

You know what I say when these articles come out (years late of course)...job security.

[CloneIce]

Just like bacteria becoming resistant to certain antibiotics. The stronger, resistant strains survive. Life is constantly evolving (other than Hawkeye fans).

[Wesley]

Let's do like Emiril and just kick it up a notch. We need some stronger stuff.

Is not most of these pesticide chemicals developed as an offshoot of nerve gas development from war days?

[JP4CY]

Let'd do like Emiril and just kick it up a notch. We need some stronger stuff.

Is not most of these pesticide chemicals developed as an offshoot of nerve gas development from war days?

Yes and No. The big thing now a days is installing the equipment that applies these chemicals and the different varieties of the chemicals. There are different suppliers from BASF to Syngenta to Monsanto that manufacture them so there are many different types out now.

[ISUAgronomist]

Let'd do like Emiril and just kick it up a notch. We need some stronger stuff.

BAM! A new herbicide was just created!

[FarminCy]

Let's do like Emiril and just kick it up a notch. We need some stronger stuff.

Is not most of these pesticide chemicals developed as an offshoot of nerve gas development from war days?

In terms of a safety factor glyphosate (round up) has a higher LD 50 (higher is better) than almost all household cleaners and even some toothpastes.

[Tre4ISU]

Yes and No. The big thing now a days is installing the equipment that applies these chemicals and the different varieties of the chemicals. There are different suppliers from BASF to Syngenta to Monsanto that manufacture them so there are many different types out now.

Different types of what?

The thing to blame for a lot of this resistance problems is the fact that in an effort to save money, growers cut down their rates. At a lower rate, some plants will survive and therefor develop a genetic resistance. As it has been said, there has always been weeds that glyphosate will not control. I think there was a misconception that roundup was the only thing needed early on in the "Roundup Era." It is now being seen that these tougher weeds such as marestail were not controlled all that well and developed the resistance.

[Tre4ISU]

In terms of a safety factor glyphosate (round up) has a higher LD 50 (higher is better) than almost all household cleaners and even some toothpastes.

Correct, another positive for the chemical itself. It should also be noted that glyphosate was first developed as an industrial cleaner.

[FarminCy]

Correct, another positive for the chemical itself. It should also be noted that glyphosate was first developed as an industrial cleaner.

Exactly, it was first used as an industrial solvent.

[JP4CY]

Different types of what?

Manufacturers that produce herbicides. I'm not talking about ground applied, I am talking about when the seed is cleaned, treated, and bagged at the plant. There are quite a few different herbicide manufacturers, different rates applied, different equipment used.

[bos]

Solution: We need to start eating weeds.

Dont some folks eat dandelion greens?

[FarminCy]

Manufacturers that produce herbicides. I'm not talking about ground applied, I am talking about when the seed is cleaned, treated, and bagged at the plant. There are quite a few different herbicide manufacturers, different rates applied, different equipment used.

Still not tracking the point here as to where you are going.

No herbicide is applied to seed at the plant, some insecticides and fungicides are but no herbicides. As far as different equipment, rates, etc, it's called calibration, obviously there are different rates for different products but you can calibrate any piece of equipment to apply the exact same rate as another type of equipment.

[statsaholic]

In terms of a safety factor glyphosate (round up) has a higher LD 50 (higher is better) than almost all household cleaners and even some toothpastes.

With all due respect, that means very little. And the issue is far more than LD50 (or LC50s as they apply) values. Atrazine has a pretty hige LD50, but persistence and environmental effects both perceived and real are huge players, coupled with possible (not well established at all) endocrine effects. I bristle when folks used the LD-50 deal with the introduction of DDT 50+ years ago and there were professor types who stood in front of classrooms and swallowed a teaspoonful of formulated DDT to "prove" it was safe. Fine, it is tied up in fat tissue and yes, they didnt die, but with what we know now.. pretty damned stupid. (It essentially never goes away.. half life is in multi-decades!). So, I know what Farmin Cy is saying, and sortof agree to a point, but the danger is we get folks at both extremes trying to make simple statements out of a fact or two plucked from a darned complex set of issues.