Winning The Battle Against Fence Line Weeds With Alion

17 July 2025, AU: A novel herbicide technology is helping usher in a new era of fence line management for growers, stopping costly weed species from invading paddocks and impacting profits.

Alion^® is a new pre-emergent herbicide which has been demonstrated to growers and advisors in regional Victoria. Alion is a Group 29 residual herbicide, providing an alternative mode of action chemistry to be used along fence lines, compared to those commonly used in Australian horticulture or broadacre cropping.

Agronomists and consultants say fence line weed management has become increasingly important to growers in recent years, with a heightened awareness of herbicide resistant weed species infiltrating paddocks, via fence lines.

“Growers’ margins are constantly getting squeezed and if we’re losing a battle against resistant weeds then the viability of cropping going forwards is challenged,” Craig Farlow from Elders Rural says.

Senior Agronomist at Nutrien Elmore James Falvey says he will be recommending the use of Alion in combination and rotation with other modes of action, to tackle herbicide resistant weeds on fence lines after closely observing the local trials.

“Alion was applied with the expectation of getting seven to ten months’ worth of control, however we found that it’s actually giving us an unexpected length of control,” James says.

“There is glyphosate resistant ryegrass at this site and we’re finding it working well and truly for up to 10 months.”

Wes Amor, Territory Sales Manager for Bayer Crop Science, says it was exciting to see excellent control of key weed species at this site for up to 16 months, including ryegrass, milk thistle and silvergrass at the Nutrien Elmore trial site.

“I’ve done eight replicated trials across north-east Victoria along fence lines, with exceptional control of weeds out to 10 months,which is the upper end of the expected overall control we expect to see from this product,” Wes says.

“The best application method with Alion is trying to get the product actually onto the soil surface and then get root uptake of the weeds within four weeks of application.”

That length of control was also a standout feature for Craig Farlow from Elders Rural, who helped trial Alion at the company’s technology site at Derby, northwest of Bendigo.

“I think Alion is one of those new innovations that’s changing our thinking on how we manage weeds on our fence lines,” Craig says.

“The efficacy of this product and the length of residual control means we can now focus our fence line management early in the season.

“Focusing earlier in the season such as April rather than August, enables us and growers to tackle smaller weeds, as we’re coming into the cropping season, potentially before or near that opening break.”

He was also impressed with the wide variety of weeds Alion is able to control and its suitability for use under trees.

“One of the key advantages of Alion is that it can be applied safely around trees on the fence lines, providing that growers follow the label,” Craig says.

“We can see across the landscape we have some big old shade trees and in other situations, we’ve got wind breaks.

“Growers don’t want to see those trees affected by any herbicide.”

Sharing the exciting results of the Alion trials has been a highlight for the agronomists involved, who’ve enjoyed taking growers on several tours in recent months.

“I’ve been fortunate enough to bring a few grower groups through here to see the Alion trial site, and the proof is in the pudding,” James Falvey says.

“They walk through and find that the cleanest treatment is the one they want, and that is more often than not the Alion one.”

“It’s been really exciting listening to farmers give their feedback on what they currently do to manage fence line weeds and hear how moving forward, they can be very proactive and do it better,” Wes Amor says.

Also Read: ICAR to Validate Biostimulants Before Sale, Says Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh

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