Long-term control

A. Brown & Sons Nursery, a wholesale nursery which sprawls across 2,000 acres in Montgomery County and the Miami Valley area of Ohio, grows the tried-and-true crops that landscapers want. From sticking 210,000 Taxus, Buxus, Thuja and Sea Green juniper cuttings annually for in-house production to growing large specimen 5-inch caliper B&B trees, the nursery offers a wide range of products.

Kevin Ganger, biologist for A. Brown & Sons, handles all the “plants, soils and water” at the nursery, which encompasses 56 different farms. Of course, weeds present a persistent challenge.

“Marengo herbicide has become the most important herbicide I apply at A. Brown & Sons Nursery, period,” Ganger says.

Marengo is a preemergent herbicide that offers up to eight months of residual weed control. That extra-long duration reduces labor costs and eliminates the need for repeat applications. That makes Marengo one of the most cost-effective preemergence herbicides, Ganger says.

“It saves me hours and hours of time, which is money, and Marengo does the job,” Ganger says. “It has a residual effect and I don’t have to worry about reapplying another herbicide by applying Marengo to these crops. You’re saving manual labor, machine labor, many hours of paying labor costs for the uses of Marengo.”

Marengo is labeled for use on more than 150 plants with applications timed in fall or spring for enhanced flexibility. It is labeled for use inside greenhouses and can be applied for weed control on floors and beneath benches.

Dr. Aaron Palmateer, senior technical support with Bayer’s Ornamental group, says that for best results, growers should apply in fall for continuous weed control into the following growing season. He also recommends irrigation or rainfall within 21 days of application.

At A. Brown and Sons Nursery, Ganger applied Marengo in October 2017 at a rate of 14.6 oz per acre. He’s still getting weed control from that October application through the summer.

Dr. Palmateer says Marengo’s active ingredient, indaziflam, has a unique mode of action that inhibits root development during weed germination by blocking cellulose biosynthesis.

“Marengo is the only active ingredient in the Weed Science Society of America (WSSA) Group 29, making it an effective rotational product in IPM programs,” he says.

Growers can apply Marengo using directed spray around ornamentals or broadcast in non-crop settings to prevent broadleaf weeds, grasses and annual sedges. For broadcast applications, Palmateer recommends using 7.5-15.5 oz per acre. For directed spray applications, he suggests 0.17-0.36 fl. oz per 1,000 sq. ft.

Ganger says the customer service he receives from Bayer’s ornamental team is another reason he’s happy with the business relationship.

“Bayer takes the chemistry to a personal level,” he says. “I really feel that Bayer offers the grower not just chemistry and not just great products, not just Marengo, not just a good insecticide, they also offer us solutions and answers, real-time human involvement, real-time care and involvement with me, the customer, to saying ‘If I can help you, I’m gonna do it.’ That is the interaction that Bayer offers to me.”