2026 Fall Valor® Application FAQs

 I hope this fall season finds everyone doing well. As we wrap up the 2026 harvest and growing season, now is a great time to start thinking about how to prepare our fields for next year.
 
In my area, I see a wide range of fall practices—from tillage and residue management to fertilizer applications and fall herbicide programs. With that in mind, I want to take a moment to address some frequently asked questions about applying Valor® in the fall for residual broadleaf weed control going into the spring of
2026. Below are some answers to frequently asked questions.
 

What is the plant back interval for fields going to lentils?

•  2 oz is 6 months
•  3 oz is 7 months

What is the plant back interval for fields going to durum?

•  Fall Valor is safe to apply prior to spring planted durum
•  3 oz is 2 months with 1 inch of rainfall
•  4 oz is 4 months

What weeds does Valor provide residual control of when applied in the fall?

•  Mustard species (wild mustard, tansy mustard etc.)
•  Marestail
•  Narrowleaf hawksbeard
•  Common lambsquarters
•  Henbit
•  Chickweed
• Dandelions
•  Nightshades
•  PPO susceptible kochia

Should I tank mix Valor in a Fall application?

It’s important to get a good kill on existing weeds and let Valor prevent new weeds from growing. For that reason, I recommend a broadleaf and grass herbicide (e.g. glyphosate and 2,4-D or dicamba) in the tank with Valor.
 

What other Fall residual options are there?

For fields going into corn, spring wheat, sunflowers, or soybeans, I recommend using one of the Fierce® brands. These pre-mix products contain Valor® (flumioxazin), pyroxasulfone, and metribuzin, and have been shown to be effective against PPO-resistant kochia.
 
The addition of pyroxasulfone and metribuzin helps extend the residual activity of Valor when applied in the fall, providing longer-lasting weed control into the spring and additional grass control.
 
Valent offers two Fierce products suitable for our region:
 Fierce EZ – does not contain metribuzin
 Fierce MTZ – includes metribuzin
 
My personal preference for fall applications is Fierce EZ, as I like to reserve metribuzin for spring use where possible. While metribuzin is very effective in fall, it is more water-soluble than Valor. In seasons with above-average fall precipitation and warm temperatures, metribuzin effectiveness can diminish due to leaching or breakdown.
 

How well does Valor work with heavy crop residue?

 Valor does not bind to residue making it perfect for no-till and higher residue situations. With a little moisture snow or rain the Valor will make soil contact. Use at least 20 GPA to help increase efficacy in those fields with heavier crop residue. 15 GPA can be used for all other applications.
 

When can I start applying Valor this fall?

 The easy quick answer is when soil temps are below 50 degrees. Keep in mind if you plan to do any tillage or residue management, do so prior to applying Valor. Applying fall Valor should be the last step in growing season 2026.

This is one of those years that we have had a lot of discussions about chemicals not working or only getting partial control of weeds. We have several things going against us right now including increasing herbicide tolerance and resistance, along with tough conditions leading to spraying weeds that were probably too large to kill or were just hardened off and would not take up the chemical.
 
The easy one to start with is tolerance and resistance. Kochia populations in the US and Canada have reported resistance to glyphosate (Group 9), Fluroxypyr (Group 4), Dicamba (Group 4) and Group 14 herbicides like Sharpen, Spartan and Valor.
Managing this weed with one post application is not going to work anymore. There are still susceptible plants out there, but every time we use these products that percentage goes down.
 
We will continue to lose more of the products we are using just because there are no new options coming to the market, while existing products have been overused for several years. Continued use of lower rates without rotating modes of action, incorrect water volumes and using the wrong type of adjuvants has promoted resistance faster than anyone ever thought could happen.
 
I have heard for almost thirty years that “we used to kill all the weeds with a half a pint of 2,4-D and only sprayed two gallons of water per acre”. Well, when those products came to market, weeds had not developed any tolerance to them yet so, yes, they did work remarkably well. The same thing happened with glyphosate, dicamba, group one grass herbicides, and pretty much every product brought to market.
 
The main problem is that when they worked so well, rates were being cut and the products were just used too much year after year. All it takes is one year with bad conditions to expose a weed species to a product and have a few plants survive the application. The seeds from those surviving plants can carry that increased tolerance, and the next step can be resistance.
 
If you think that you can just bump up the rate when you see resistance and it will still work, you might end up with hurt feelings. The simple truth is that you can spray ten times the rates once a weed has developed resistance and it will not touch that weed. Everyone needs to be really worried about because this because resistance is not going away and I don’t see the situation getting any better or many new products coming to market.
 
Environmental conditions are the next issue that some growers don’t want to hear about, and some will just tell us we are making excuses. Every label ever made has what I call a protection clause for the manufacture that states that the manufacturer is not responsible for any product performance complaints due to environmental conditions.

I always warn people when crop spraying that if it is too cold in the mornings, do not spray herbicides because the crop growth is so slow that it might not metabolize the herbicide, and you can see significant crop injury. The weeds will also slow down enough that they might not take up the herbicide so you will see reduced control.
 
The same goes for dry and hot weather. If the weeds are hardened off by drought or heat, they will not take in the chemical and you will not kill the weeds. Similar to cool conditions you could also possibly have crop injury if the crop takes in the herbicide and cannot metabolize it fast enough.
 
Another factor that relates directly to environmental conditions is that with thinner stands due to dry conditions, you might have killed the weeds that were present during your herbicide application, but weeds will continue to germinate throughout the summer, especially after later rains. If sunlight is reaching the soil because of thin crop stands, kochia and Russian thistle can germinate with very little soil moisture.
 
In many situations where growers might think an herbicide application did not work, the weeds actually germinated after they sprayed. You can usually look along the field edges or corners where the boom turned too fast and find weeds that were missed that are much larger than the crop.
 
Post harvest spraying in a dry year is also very challenging. Most of the weeds are larger than the herbicides are meant to kill at this point and even worse they are hardened off and will not take chemical into the weeds. This is a problem when you harvest a field in August and it still has another 2 months of good growing conditions that take the weed to maturity, using all the nutrients and moisture that are available.
 
This year was one of those years that we sprayed more paraquat post-harvest just because of this issue. Paraquat does not have to translocate through a weed to kill it so it will kill the plant tissue on contact and dry it up. The only drawback to this is that weeds can grow out of it, especially when using lower water rates resulting in less coverage.
 
Many of the factors that caused weed issues this year were out of our control, but make sure to get the things that we can control right. Using the correct water volumes and adjuvants can make or break your weed control program in tough conditions. When products do not translocate through a weed to kill it, they require larger water volumes to get coverage over the entire weed. If you skimp on the water, you might get half the weed covered and only kill part of the weed allowing it to continue to grow, use up nutrients and moisture and eventually produce seed.
 
Adjuvants are basically the doorway into the weed. If you skimp on adjuvants or use the wrong products, the door does not open. Cheap generic glyphosate is an easy target for me with this example. The reason they are cheap is that the surfactants being used in them are cheap, so they do not help much to get the glyphosate into the weeds.
 
All the herbicides we have available today are essentially the last line of defense in your weed-control program, so use them correctly and do your best to compensate for environmental conditions:

CP0246XF is 0.2 relative maturity variety that is broadly adapted and can perform well on poorly drained, IDC affected ground. This is one of the top-selling soybean varieties for Winfield and would be well suited for irrigated acres in the Yellowstone Valley. In trials conducted by Winfield United in North Dakota, yields ranged from 42 to 55 bu/A.
 
This variety is also available as a WinPak, sold as CP0240XF. WinPaks combine two varieties that compliment each other to increase adaptation to different conditions. Winfield has observed that CP0240XF has slightly higher IDC tolerance compared to CP0246XF, although tolerance to white mold is slightly reduced.
 
CP0440XF is a 0.4 relative maturity WinPak of CP0444XF and CP0555XF that can also be considered for irrigated acres. It has strong IDC tolerance designed for poorly drained soils, and contains the P188.788 SCN resistance gene. North Dakota yield trials ranged from 37 to 66 bu/A.
 
Croplan soybean can come treated with Warden CXII which contains active ingredients effective against Pythium, Fusarium and Rhizoctonia seed rot and seedling blight. The order deadline is January 22, 2027 to get treated seed.

 
Canola

CP7667LL is a new Liberty Link canola available from Croplan. This mid- to early-maturing hybrid brings new top end shatter tolerance to the lineup. As a new variety, CP7667LL would be a good one to try out on a few acres this year.
 
CP7500LL is a mid- to late- maturing Liberty Link canola with stable yields. Similar to CP7667 it is rated as SC+ (straight cut plus), indicating improved shatter tolerance over older hybrids rated as SC. Low response to nitrogen scores means this variety may be more tolerant to reduced fertility conditions.
 
Both of these hybrids boast improved pod shatter resistance, lodging, and heat/drought stress scores compared to CP7250LL. This older hybrid can still perform and yield well with prompt harvest and good conditions, however.
 
Reach out to your Horizon Resources location if you have any questions about the Croplan lineup. 
 
 
Dr. Audrey Kalil, CCA
Agronomist/Outreach Coordinator