The use of separate root and shoot tests in the screening of herbicides for strawberries

Summary: The tolerance of strawberries to herbicides was tested by applications to the roots of plants growing in sand and by foliage applications to plants grown in compost, and compared with tolerance in the field. Dimefuron was safe as a foliar application but much more toxic than simazine when applied in sand or in the field. Metamitron caused slight injury as a foliar spray; in sand and in the field it was intermediate in toxicity between simazine and lenacil. At normal rates propachlor was safe as a foliar spray and much safer than lenacil when applied in sand. High rates had no adverse effect in the field. Ethofumesate and pendimethalin caused some temporary stunting when applied to foliage, but were less toxic than lenacil when applied to roots in sand. Field applications of both herbicides at 1–1.5 kg/ha were safe. Foliage sprays of bentazone, oxadiazon and oxyfluorfen severely damaged the sprayed leaves, but these herbicides were less active than lenacil when applied to the roots. In the field they caused severe leaf damage, but by the end of the growing season the plants had recovered. The experiments demonstrated the value of separate root and shoot activity tests for indicating which herbicides merit further field testing.