University of Missouri weed scientists are building on dicamba research by the University of Tennessee and have positive early results. Tennessee found that a dicamba and glyphosate tank mix lowered the pH and increased the volatility of dicamba.
MU Extension specialist Mandy Bish says they looked at whether weed control is diminished by increasing the pH of the tank mix with pH modifiers and took the research to a plot densely covered with waterhemp, “There aren’t differences among the different pH modifiers compared to having no pH modifier.”
Bish says it’s a promising result, “Maybe we CAN add pH modifiers that should decrease the risk of volatility and not lose any of our waterhemp control.”
Bish says MU’s work is very preliminary and they will do tests on other weeds next year.