Reasons to use AMS with glyphosate

[birdog]

Guess only but your well water is probably harder than you think. It also matters how you mix the AMS. You should be mixing the water and AMS and give it some time before you add the gly. Sprayer grade dry AMS is 17 pounds per 100 gallons of water and if I recall correctly liquid AMS was 2.5 - 5 gallons per 100 gallons. I think that changes If adding something like 2-4d. I have hard well water (softener set to 25) and before I used AMS I had all kinds of trouble getting a good kill. Now I mix AMS a few hours before I add gly and it’s smoke city.

Jack - Sprayer has been calibrated and gly mix was 2qt/ac
Rit - I think you have nailed it. I mix the AMS with the water before adding gly but I have never waited. I dump the gly in immediately after I fill with the correct amount of water. I also think you are correct with the hardness of my well water and I may not be using enough AMS.
Thank you both for taking the time to respond!

 

[Rit]

Jack - Sprayer has been calibrated and gly mix was 2qt/ac
Rit - I think you have nailed it. I mix the AMS with the water before adding gly but I have never waited. I dump the gly in immediately after I fill with the correct amount of water. I also think you are correct with the hardness of my well water and I may not be using enough AMS.
Thank you both for taking the time to respond!

Mixing up the AMS and water really well is also key. If you mix it up and give it a little time before you add gly I think you will see a world of difference. We have a softener at the house but none of the outside hydrants run through it. Good luck

 

[Rit]

One other thing for people that don’t know there is a big difference between water soluble AMS (blue or purple graphics on white plastic) versus sprayer grade AMS (red graphics on white plastic). You want the latter.

 

[breddick]

I did some spraying this am and used AMS. I hadn't been using it on some of my earlier glyphosate spraying and it has worked ok, but not having a side by side control who knows if the efficacy was reduced?

I had a 5 lb bag of AMS left from several years back. I fill my 15 gallon 4 wheeler sprayer using a 5 gallon bucket from the creek (nice clean running water). I poured maybe 1/2 to 1 lb of AMS into the bucket with maybe 1/2 gallon creek water. Swirled a minute until mostly dissolved and then poured into sprayer. Half filled the tank with water and then added glyphosate. Then filled the rest of the tank. Extremely precise I know, but hey I bet it helps.

 

[yoderjac]

I did some spraying this am and used AMS. I hadn't been using it on some of my earlier glyphosate spraying and it has worked ok, but not having a side by side control who knows if the efficacy was reduced?

I had a 5 lb bag of AMS left from several years back. I fill my 15 gallon 4 wheeler sprayer using a 5 gallon bucket from the creek (nice clean running water). I poured maybe 1/2 to 1 lb of AMS into the bucket with maybe 1/2 gallon creek water. Swirled a minute until mostly dissolved and then poured into sprayer. Half filled the tank with water and then added glyphosate. Then filled the rest of the tank. Extremely precise I know, but hey I bet it helps.

Fill your tank with water and AMS. Make sure the AMS is well dissolved and the water well mixed. Give it some time for the AMS to bond with minerals in the water. This ties them up so they can't bind with gly and make it less effective. Then add the gly just before you go and spray.

Thanks,

Jack

 

[Freeborn]

Is there any reason you couldn't pre-mix AMS and water in 2.5 gallon jugs and then add them to your tank. This would allow the AMS to completely dissolve before you add it to the tank. Most of us have plenty of 2.5 gallon jugs laying around. I use a 25 gallon sprayer.

 

[yoderjac]

Is there any reason you couldn't pre-mix AMS and water in 2.5 gallon jugs and then add them to your tank. This would allow the AMS to completely dissolve before you add it to the tank. Most of us have plenty of 2.5 gallon jugs laying around. I use a 25 gallon sprayer.

That is a standard way to do it if you don't have sprayer grade AMS. The sprayer grades stuff dissolves quickly in water. You still need to give it some agitation and time to bind before adding gly.

Thanks,

Jack