Root Kill 42%EC

Overview

Root Kill 42%EC is a herbicide from Agritas, built on the Chloroacetamide (VLCFA inhibitor) chemistry. It is used against annual grasses and small-seeded broadleaf weeds. Registered use on cotton, maize. Agritas supplies it through the Haryali Markaz network, where the staff know which pests and diseases are moving in your district this week and can tell you whether this is the right product for what you are actually seeing in the field.

Composition

Pendimethalin + Acetochlor 42%EC

Type

Herbicide

Chemical group

Dinitroaniline (mitosis inhibitor) + Chloroacetamide (VLCFA inhibitor)

Pack size

1000 ml

Controls

Recommended crops

Mode of action

Root Kill 42%EC combines 2 active ingredients, which broadens the range of pests covered and slows resistance:

• Pre-emergence herbicide that stops root and shoot cell division in germinating weeds. Apply to a clean, moist seedbed before weeds appear.

• Pre-emergence herbicide taken up by weed shoots as they push through the soil layer.

Dose & application

1 litre per acre

Rate: 1 litre per acre.

Water: 120–150 litres of water per acre with a flat-fan nozzle. Never a cone nozzle — it drifts onto the neighbour's field and misses your own.

Timing: Weed size decides the result more than the rate does. A weed at two to four leaves dies easily; the same weed three weeks later often survives a full dose.

Mixing: half-fill the tank, add the product, then top up with the agitator running. Spray it out the same day — a mix left standing overnight separates and blocks the nozzle.

Why it pays

Weeds take water, nitrogen and light before the crop gets any of it, and they take it in the first six weeks when the crop is deciding how much it will yield. One timely herbicide usually costs less than the two hand weedings it replaces, and it arrives on the day the weeds are small enough to die.

Field tips

Spray weeds, not soil — unless the label says pre-emergence, in which case spray moist, settled soil and do not disturb it afterwards. Working the ground after a pre-emergence spray breaks the layer and the weeds come straight through.

Clean the tank before and after. Herbicide left in a sprayer will damage the next crop it touches, and the damage shows up days later when nobody connects it to the tank.

Check what you are sowing next. Some herbicides stay active in the soil long enough to hurt the following crop.

Safety

Use a sprayer kept only for herbicides — traces left in a shared tank will damage the next crop you spray. Do not spray in wind, because drift onto a neighbouring broadleaf crop such as cotton causes serious damage. Note the label's restriction on what you may plant next in that field.