Managing the weeds and vegetation that grow around cable barriers and guardrails is a necessary step to help provide visibility to these safety structures. However, continual management can be difficult, costly and unnecessarily put roadside crews in harm's way. By incorporating Envu herbicides into your management program, you can reliably manage risk and cost.
Even if a postemergence herbicide is used in combination with mowing and trimming, it won’t deliver the same efficacy as Envu herbicide solutions. The problem with a reactive postemergence approach is that application sometimes comes too late. Once reactive treatments have started, many annual weeds have already produced seeds for their next generation, and crews will just have to spray or cut again. This approach primarily delivers height regulation instead of focusing on long-term management of the site.
The most dangerous jobs for a roadside crew involve mowing and trimming around cable barriers and guardrails on interstate highways. In fact, workers and motorists are both at risk each time cable barriers or guardrails need to be maintained by mowing and trimming. It’s a hazard to motorists because mowers and trimmers can accidentally throw rocks into traffic and cause accidents. Clearly, the common protocol is repetitive, costly and potentially dangerous.
When it comes to your cable barrier and guardrail vegetation management plan, there’s an easy way to reduce risk and cost. Unlike mowing and trimming, Envu products combined with mechanical methods work to manage weeds for an extended period of time. Our products work together to suppress growth and deplete the seed bank of unwanted weeds.
We recommend a combination of Esplanade® 200 SC herbicide (preemergence) and Method® 240SL herbicide (both preemergence and postemergence) in the fall, plus Method 240SL herbicide and Derigo® herbicide (postemergence weed control and plant growth regulation) the following spring/summer.
Fall applications to maintain total weed control areas are best when providing both preemergence and postemergence control with products like Esplanade® Sure herbicide, Esplanade® 200 SC herbicide, Method® 240SL herbicide and Plainview® SC herbicide.
Depending on selective or bareground areas, the Envu portfolio can be combined with other products to reduce the need for repetitive mechanical activities. For effective management for the long haul, a fall herbicide application is recommended in addition to a spring/summer herbicide application, with mechanical treatments as needed.
