On the course with Dr. Dale: Discovering Aethon Herbicide SL’s impact on turf health

Editor-in-Chief Seth Jones meets up with Dale Sanson, Ph.D., senior director of formulation development in compliance chemistry for PBI-Gordon, to see how Aethon Herbicide SL for Turfgrass looks on the course.

Transcript

Seth Jones: Hey everybody. Seth Jones, editor-in-chief of Golfdom Magazine. I’m out of the golf course this time with PBI Gordon’s Dr. Dale. Dr. Dale Sanson, thank you so much for taking time to chat with me today.

Dale Sanson, Ph.D.: Oh, thank you, Seth. It’s always a pleasure to be with you and also to get out of the lab to see how great our products perform in real world applications.

SJ: Absolutely. And today, we want to talk about a new product that PBI-Gordon has out, Aethon Herbicide SL. Talk to me about it. On the drive out here, you were talking about the unique attributes. What can you tell me about it?

DS: Well, there’s actually three main call outs. First of all, this is the first time that permit and penoxsulam have been put together in a liquid based product, which is exciting. Secondly, as opposed to most products in this space, this is a soluble liquid, as opposed to wdgs Dry flowables. Nothing wrong with dry flovables or wdgs, but being a liquid is an added attribute in that you can tip pour and accurately measure. The third point, and the main point, is the fact that premise, sulfan and penoxsulam are typically formulated as SC’s. In this case, they are put together with an adjuvant technology that allows those two active ingredients to be solubilized. That’s very important, because it enhances the biological activity when applied to the target weeds.

SJ: And for the southern superintendents who are interested in Aethon, talk to me about the weed control. What weeds are they going to get control of?

DS: Well, the common ones that you see in warm season turf, such as dollarweed, and an emerging issue is doveweed, which it does very good on. You’ve got violets, Virginia button wheat. You’ve got your traditional broadleaf such as dandelions, plantain and clover. The added attributes is you’re pulling in that technology from Aethon that targets kyllinga and your sedges, purple, yellow, annual with this CO formulate technology. With perimysfan, it actually gets into this edge, translocates and eliminates the tuber.

SJ: Okay. Great, great. And how does it do as a tank mix partner? I always like to ask you that, does it get along well with others?

DS: Oh, absolutely ideal. Now, the great thing about this is it’s pH tolerance in the spray tank. So there’s a lot of variability of a lot of products out in the market. You can add this in and be rest assured that those two active ingredients, premise, sofran and penoxsulam are not harmed and will continue to maintain their efficacy. Another added attribute is the fact that it can be mixed with fertilizers a lot of times maintenance. Individuals like to put fertilizers with their herbicide application, and rest assured, it’s going to be totally fine.

SJ: What about temperature restrictions for the product?

DS: That’s a major call out being in warm season turf, there aren’t any temperature restrictions.

SJ: Okay, great. Well, we’re excited Aethon is on the market, new and exciting. So, Dr. Dale, thanks for coming out to the golf course, but we gotta get you back in the lab again.

DS: Thank you, Seth.

SJ: Okay. Everybody, this is Dr. Dale. I’m Seth. Thanks for watching us here on Golfdom TV.