Exploring more vegetation control options with HighNoon® herbicide
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Vegetation managers need to be prepared to handle many different kinds of ground for many different kinds of customers. A typical week’s work could include visits to a housing addition, utility substation, public park and county highway, for starters. Each area calls for its own considerations, and managers need options that are versatile, easy to use and provide reliable results.
For many years, Milestone® herbicide and TerraVue® herbicide have been a been go-to solution sfor addressing a broad spectrum of weeds on many types of ground. In recent seasons, however, more land managers have gained experience with a different option — HighNoon® herbicide. They’re finding HighNoon useful to control invasives and help maintain beneficial vegetation in range and pasture as well as in other weed management scenarios, including bare ground.
We spoke with two weed control specialists who have used HighNoon in a variety of settings to get their take on how this option has worked for them.
What is HighNoon® herbicide?
HighNoon combines the active ingredient in Milestone® herbicide (aminopyralid) with Rinksor™ active. This creates a few advantages, including a broader spectrum of activity. HighNoon controls more than 140 weeds, which is about 50% more species than Milestone. It’s also very compatible with common tank-mixes, and as a liquid formulation, it’s easy to handle and mix. HighNoon maintains native grass safety and is gentle on many other beneficial plants, such as forbs, helping landscapes recover from invasives.
HighNoon is also a reduced-risk herbicide that is low-odor and virtually nonvolatile. It has no grazing restrictions and it poses reduced risks to applicators, livestock, fauna, consumers and the environment. This can make it a great choice for vegetation managers serving a diverse set of stakeholders who may have concerns about what’s being applied on their land or in their community.
Controlling problem weeds in many settings
“We have over 50 different herbicides we can pull from depending on what’s perfect for each situation,” explained Clint Dotterer, owner of Weed Wranglers, which is based in Denver and serves a large swath of the Colorado Front Range area. HighNoon® herbicide earned a place on Dotterer’s shelf for several reasons, including its low use rates, application flexibility and broader spectrum.
Weed Wranglers treats diverse landscapes, including green belts, utility ROWs, oil and gas wells, wind farm and solar installations, roadsides, small range and pasture areas, government-managed lands and storage yards. Some of the work calls for vegetation management, while other customers require total vegetation control. Major problem weeds in the area include Canada thistle, leafy spurge, knapweeds and common mullein. “Those would be our ‘employees of the month,’” Dotterer joked.
Across these many different areas, however, Dotterer has a uniting philosophy. “We try to put as little product out there as possible, focusing on targeted application versus broadcast,” he said. “We want to use the right thing, in the right place, knowing exactly what our target species are and following exactly what the product label says.”
HighNoon has mostly replaced Milestone for Dotterer’s operation. They’re using it in range and pasture, roadsides, riparian settings (up to the water’s edge) and in some bare ground applications. “Essentially, we use it exactly where we would use Milestone,” Dotterer said, “but it’s a little better.”
The “little better” that Dotterer sees is faster control and a broader spectrum. “Almost all the weeds that were an issue, we’re getting some effect with HighNoon,” he said. “We see a little faster response on some species, and that’s a big deal for customers.”
Practical experience in IVM and bare ground
In northeast Colorado, Travis Harris, Superintendent for H2 Enterprises, has had experiences similar to Dotterer’s. H2 Enterprises performs full integrated vegetation management (IVM) services including mowing, interseeding and herbicide application.
Like Dotterer, Harris works for customers in many different settings, including public land, ranches, private residences and the energy industry. The company’s work extends beyond Colorado and includes maintaining bare ground in the Texas panhandle and Oklahoma.
“We’re always on the go,” Harris said. “Our crews might treat 20 to 30 sites in a day, so it’s good to use one product when we can.” Increasingly for Harris, that product is HighNoon® herbicide.
“[HighNoon] is probably our go to for broadleaf weeds now.”
—Travis Harris, Superintendent, H2 Enterprises
Dotterer also likes using a mix. In his case, he’s using a combination of HighNoon and Piper® EZ herbicide on hard bare ground where trees are not present. He noted that HighNoon is a good choice, particularly in bare ground areas that are very weedy to start with. “HighNoon gives us really good control,” he said, and customers like seeing those weeds knocked down quickly.
This bare ground lot shows the results of treatment with a combination of HighNoon and Piper EZ to achieve total vegetation control (TVC). Photo courtesy of Clint Dotterer.
Reducing risk to grasses and beneficials
A big part of H2 Enterprises’ work is vegetation reclamation at oil and gas wells. This process includes interseeding, so Harris always has plant-back in mind. “Russian thistle and kochia are really resistant in oil and gas reclamation sites,” Harris explained. “We have to get in early to get control. If we have to go back in [for a second treatment], that affects our ability to plant grass.” The window can be small where the moisture is just right for interseeding.
After doing all that work to promote new grass growth, it’s vital to protect it. “We’re in such a niche, where you really have to finesse things to keep the grass growing. It’s a real balancing act with the herbicide,” he explained. “I feel less leery using HighNoon with the grasses.”
While HighNoon® herbicide has a favorable profile for many beneficials, Dotterer reminds applicators who are considering trying HighNoon to be cautious about using it near trees because of possible root zone uptake with aminopyralid.
Easy-to-use option
Harris and Dotterer both noted that HighNoon® herbicide is easy to use and handle. With teams covering so many locations daily, Harris appreciates the simplicity of HighNoon compared to dry formulations, such as TerraVue® herbicide. “With powders, you heed to wear a mask and agitate more,” he noted. For the kinds of applications his team is doing, frequent agitation often isn’t feasible, and additional PPE is one more thing for the team to carry around. “With HighNoon, you take the jug and just go with it. To me, that’s worth the price of gold,” Harris said.
Both Harris and Dotterer also appreciate that HighNoon has an environmentally favorable profile that helps make it easier to talk about with the public and landowners. Harris said, “Of course, on a farmer’s land, you’re always worried about habitat. It’s really nice to show them that there are no grazing restrictions on the label. That really turns off the alarm bells for them.”
With HighNoon in their arsenal, land managers get trusted strength that can be applied at crucial times to help protect the land, investments and future in the areas they serve.
Under normal field conditions, HighNoon® and TerraVue® are nonvolatile. HighNoon, Milestone® and TerraVue have no grazing or haying restrictions for any class of livestock, including lactating dairy cows, horses (including lactating mares) and meat animals prior to slaughter. Label precautions apply to forage treated with HighNoon, Milestone and TerraVue and to manure and urine from animals that have consumed treated forage. State restrictions on the sale and use of Milestone apply. Consult the label for full details. Not all products are registered for sale or use in all states. Contact your state pesticide regulatory agency to determine if a product is registered for sale or use in your state. Always read and follow label directions. Piper® is a registered trademark of Valent U.S.A. LLC.
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