Indiana mint growers have a newly registered use for a familiar herbicide. Spartan®, already labeled for use in newly planted and dormant mint, can now be applied as a post-harvest application in Indiana with a new 24(c) Special Local Needs label (Figure 1).
Figure 1. Spartan 24c label screen shot.
Here is what you need to know
-An application can only be made with ground equipment; not by air and not by chemigation (through irrigation equipment).
-A post-harvest application should be made after mint hay is removed from the field, but before the mint resprouts.
-The post-harvest use rate is 4 fl oz per acre with a total yearly limit of two applications and 12 fl oz per acre.
-If Spartan® was applied to dormant or newly planted mint, the post-harvest application must occur at least 100 days later.
-If mint will be double-cut, the post-harvest application must occur at least 55 days before the second harvest.
-Rainfall or overhead irrigation is required to “activate” the herbicide by moving it into the soil where weed seeds are actively germinating.
-The label prohibits the use of Spartan® on sands with less than 1% organic matter.
As with all agricultural practices, we recommend that you avoid farm-wide changes until you have a sense of how a post-harvest Spartan® application will work in your production system with your soils and your specific mint varieties.
Thank you to the Indiana Mint Market Development and Research Council for supporting the research used to develop this label. Thank you to FMC, the Office of the Indiana State Chemist, and the Mint Industry Research Council for their collaboration and support of this label for Indiana Mint Growers.
You can view the new label here https://oisc.purdue.edu/pesticide/special/updated_sln_label_spartan4f_in-240001.pdf or by scanning this QR code:
Figure 2. Spartan label QR code.
To learn more about the research that supported this label, visit https://ag.purdue.edu/department/hla/extension/_docs/2023-indiana-mint-weed-management-trial-report-immdc.pdf or scan this QR code:
Figure 3. Post-harvest research report QR code.