From the Gamkeeper Podcast Studio – Episode 331 The Secrets to Spraying Success – Joined in studio by spraying experts Twinky Estes and Bryson Whitmon of Nutrien Ag Solutions. We thoroughly discuss the benefits and techniques of sprayer calibration and the nuances of spraying effectively. There are so many benefits to spraying but so many confusing questions. Subscribe on YouTube or Apple
Walk into any farm supply store, and the chemical aisle can feel like a foreign language. The shelves are filled with jugs bearing names that blend and labels filled with intricate details, and if you seek advice from the wrong person, you may end up with a product that either fails to meet your needs or exceeds your expectations.
The good news is that most gamekeepers are really only working with a handful of herbicides regularly. You don’t need to know every product on the shelf; you need to know your lineup. Know what each one does, what it won’t touch, when to use it, and when to leave it.
Bryson and Hunter Estes from Nutrient Ag Solutions broke all of this down for us, and we’re going to walk through it the same way they did.
First, Understand What You’re Actually Trying to Do
Before discussing specific products, it’s helpful to consider what herbicides target and how they work. Some are selective, meaning they’ll knock out certain plant types while leaving others alone. Some are non-selective, which means they’ll take out whatever they touch. Some work through the leaf and move systemically within the plant. Others have soil activity and continue working after the first rain.
Knowing which is which matters a lot. Using the wrong herbicide at the wrong time can damage a food plot you spent good money establishing, create a drift problem for your neighbor’s field, or simply not work because you selected a product that does not target what you are after.
With that said, here’s the core lineup.
1. Glyphosate (Roundup)
This herbicide is the one everybody knows, and it’s still the backbone of most pre-planting programs. Glyphosate is a nonselective herbicide; it does not discriminate between grass and broadleaf plants and will affect whatever it contacts. That makes it the go-to product for burning down a field before you plant or reclaiming a plot that’s gotten away from you over the summer.
Bryson and Hunter are quick to emphasize that glyphosate is no longer the panacea it once was. Years of inconsistent application, too little product, bad water quality, tying up the chemistry and people mixing by feel instead of by rate have created resistance in many common weed species. Italian ryegrass is a big one in the Southeast right now. Pigweed. Waterhemp is up in the Midwest. These plants have seen enough sub-lethal doses that they’ve essentially learned to shrug it off.
That doesn’t mean glyphosate is done; it just means you have to use it right. Proper rates, good water quality, and correct application timing. When those things line up, it still does its job.
2. Clethodim (Select)
If glyphosate is the one everybody knows, clethodim is the one every gamekeeper managing clover or legumes needs to know. It’s a selective grass killer, which means it goes after grasses and leaves your broadleaf plants alone. That’s a critical distinction when you’ve got a stand of clover you’ve worked hard to establish, and you need to clean the grass competition out without torching the clover right along with it.
Apply it over your clover, your alfalfa, or your iron clay peas; it’s not going to bother the legumes. It will handle your grasses, which is exactly what you want when fescue or ryegrass starts crowding in on a stand. It’s one of those products that gamekeepers who manage clover plots lean on pretty heavily throughout the season.
3. 2,4-D
Here’s where things start to get a little nuanced, because there are actually two products people are often referring to when they say “two-four-D,” and they don’t work the same way.
Standard 2,4-D is a selective broadleaf herbicide. It targets broadleaf plants and leaves grasses alone, which is the opposite of clethodim. So if you’ve got a grass stand and you need to knock back the broadleaf competition without killing the grass, this herbicide is where you’d reach. But be careful where and when you use it, as it will kill your clover if sprayed over it.
One other thing worth knowing: 2,4-D is the active ingredient in what became Agent Orange during the Vietnam era. The name “Agent Orange” comes from the orange barrels it was shipped in, not from the compound itself, but it’s the same chemistry, which shows how long this stuff has been around. It was first synthesized back in the 1940s, and it’s still in heavy use today. That’s not an accident. It works.
4. 2,4-DB
This one trips people up because the name is so close to 2,4-D, but the behavior is different in one important way. The “B” version, technically a butyrate compound, is much weaker on legumes. Where standard 2,4-D will damage clover, 2,4-DB is formulated to leave legumes largely alone while still going after broadleaf weeds.
That makes it a useful tool when you’re managing a clover or alfalfa stand, and you’ve got broadleaf weeds creeping in that clethodim won’t handle. It’s also widely used in peanut farming for the same reason. If you’re running a mix of clover and trying to clean it up without reaching for glyphosate, 2,4-DB is worth knowing about. Just understand that it won’t touch your grasses, and it can still stress iron-clay peas and soybeans if you push the rate too hard.
5. Triclopyr (Remedy / Garlon)
When you start dealing with woody vegetation, brushy plants, vines, or anything with a waxy or thick leaf surface, you move out of the territory where 2,4-D alone is effective. That’s where triclopyr comes in. It’s a broadleaf and woody plant herbicide that’s particularly effective on things like poison oak, privet, kudzu, and other invasive vines that have a tougher exterior.
It’s sometimes described as 2,4-D on steroids, though Bryson and Hunter would say it’s more accurate to describe it as a tool built specifically for the brushy and woody stuff that standard broadleaf herbicides don’t fully penetrate. If you have invasive brush on your property, as most Southeast gamekeepers do, it deserves a spot.
6. Dicamba
Dicamba is often run alongside 2,4-D or triclopyr rather than on its own, and for good reason. It brings soil activity into the equation, meaning it continues working even after it hits the ground, at least until a rain event moves through. That provides it with some residual effect that the other broadleaf herbicides don’t have.
Bryson’s preference when dealing with really brushy, persistent vegetation is to combine dicamba with triclopyr. The combination handles a wider range of plant types, and the dicamba’s soil activity helps knock out anything that might be germinating from the root system. The caveat is that it doesn’t take much moisture to push it off the label; one good rain and that residual activity is largely gone. But in a dry wind, it’s one of the more effective tools available for tough brush situations.
7. Imazapyr (Arsenal)
This one demands respect. Imazapyr is a broad-spectrum herbicide that goes after both grasses and broadleaves, and unlike most of the other products on this list, it has significant soil activity and a longer residual. That makes it very effective at dealing with persistent invasive grasses like cogongrass and fescue, plants that keep coming back because their root systems are extensive and they’re hard to fully knock out with contact-only chemistry.
The tradeoff is that you need to be careful about where you’re applying it and what’s nearby. The soil persistence that makes it effective against tough invasives also means it can affect desirable plants if it moves off target. It’s not a product to use carelessly near established food plots or timber you care about. For reclaiming ground overtaken by cogongrass or other problematic species, this product is one of the better tools available. Just plan it out before you spray.
What Happens When You Add Fertilizer to the Tank
This question frequently arises, and the truthful response is contingent upon your specific goals and the mixture you’re using.
A lot of gamekeepers have noticed that spraying glyphosate alongside a liquid fertilizer seems to work faster, the vegetation browns out more quickly than with herbicide alone. There’s a reason for that. The liquid fertilizer acts similarly to a surfactant. It helps the solution spread across the waxy leaf surface rather than sitting on top in a bead, which allows the herbicide to penetrate the plant faster. The fertilizer essentially helps carry the chemistry in.
Beyond that, fertilizer can help condition water chemistry in the tank, much like a dedicated water conditioner does. That matters in areas with hard or high-pH water where herbicides can get tied up in solution before they ever reach the plant.
That said, Bryson is straightforward about the fact that two products in a tank don’t always get along. The reason herbicide and fertilizer companies don’t sell their products pre-mixed in the same jug is that the chemistry isn’t always compatible. Some combinations will clabber up, salt out, or create reactions that reduce the effectiveness of one or both products. A $500,000 commercial sprayer sitting on a turn row with gelled-up chemistry coming out of the tips is not hypothetical; it happens.
For gamekeepers working with a 25- or 50-gallon UTV sprayer, the practical rule is as follows: if you want to mix fertilizer and herbicide together, a low-volatility 2,4-D is generally the safest combination. It’s formulated in a way that tends to be compatible with fertilizer solutions without creating issues. Beyond that, get some water in the tank first before you add chemistry, and if you’ve never combined two particular products before, do a jar test: mix a small amount in a mason jar and shake it around before you commit to a full tank. A few minutes of testing is far more beneficial than a ruined load of chemicals.
And if you want to be certain, just make two trips. It sounds like extra work, but spraying your herbicide and coming back separately with your foliar fertilizer isn’t a bad system at all. Both products do their jobs better when they’re not competing with each other in the tank, and you’ll have a clearer read on what’s working.
Conclusion
Before you spray anything, especially anything with 2,4-D or dicamba in it, take a look at what’s around your property. Cotton is extremely sensitive to broadleaf herbicides. A small amount of 2,4-D drifting into a neighbouring cotton field on a warm day with a little breeze can curl and damage the crop in ways that are difficult to explain and harder to fix. The same goes for vegetable gardens, rose beds, tomatoes, and many other plants that people nearby might be growing without you knowing.
This isn’t about being overly cautious; it’s just about being a good neighbor and protecting your access to the land. Most drift problems happen because someone sprayed on a windy afternoon or in conditions where the temperature was high enough that volatilization became an issue. Spray in the morning when it’s cooler and calmer, and check the wind direction before you start.
The gamekeepers who get the most out of their chemical program aren’t necessarily the ones spraying the most. They’re the ones who know what each product does, apply it at the right time, and use it as a management tool rather than a problem-fixer after things have gotten out of hand.
You’ve got a solid lineup; right here, seven products that, between them, cover grasses, broadleaves, woody vegetation, and persistent invasives. Learn when each one applies to your situation, keep your spray rig calibrated, and use the right chemistry for the job. That’s really the whole game.
