Minnesota company develops natural herbicide

By ANDREA JOHNSON, Valley Editor

BLOOMINGTON, Minn. - Growers have a new product that doesn't use synthetic chemicals to kill weeds.

AllDownª Green Chemistry Herbicide is a non-selective weed and grass herbicide made from organic acetic acid, citric acid, garlic, yucca plant extracts and water. Developers say AllDown will control a wide variety of weeds, including quackgrass, pigweed, velvetleaf and thistle.

"We have not found a weed yet that it did not work on. It burned back thistles in 24 hours," said Paul Marrs, president of SummerSet Products, Inc., Bloomington.

SummerSet's AllDown label states the herbicide "works rapidly, providing fast dehydration and control of unwanted broadleaf weeds and grasses in a short period of time."

AllDown can be applied on weeds either by spot treatments or with a hooded crop sprayer to keep the herbicide from getting on the crop.

AllDown Green Chemistry Herbicide has also been successfully tested as a defoliant in cotton.

"Green Chemistry" is a catch phrase for applying "innovative scientific solutions to real-world environmental situations through the environmentally conscious design of products."

"AllDown is a desiccant that burns back the leaves by sucking the water out," said Marrs. "It's a plant-derived acid."

Growers would apply AllDown once or twice to minimize weed growth until a crop canopy is formed. Costs per application could be as low as $20/acre.

"When we started this, our objective was to see if we could get it under $40/acre. We were told that would be acceptable to organic certified corn, soybean, potato or cotton growers," said Marrs.

Marrs and Neil Mathiason, SummerSet plant scientist, worked on the chemistry for AllDown over a seven-and-a-half year time period.

"There are a couple of products out there that are made with glacial acetic acid - a synthetic product. We went with a natural acetic acid," said Marrs.

"Neil started out adjusting the main ingredients. When we first started out, our product ate holes in leaves, so we knew we had something. We had to rearrange the ingredients and do a lot of testing to achieve our goal."

Marrs sent samples of AllDown in 1998 to Dr. Nick Christians, Iowa State University assistant professor of horticulture. Christians conducted a replicated plot study that compared AllDown to Roundup on Kentucky bluegrass.

"AllDown has an excellent quick knockdown," said Christians. "The plants would begin to show the effect within a few hours and by evening they would show signs they were going to die out. It was very effective on killing any tissue it came in contact with."

Christians recommended adding a surfactant to their product - that's why AllDown now contains yucca plant extracts making the product stick better to the leaves.

"For quick knockdown of vegetation, AllDown was very effective," said Christians.

Christians felt there were applications for AllDown as a weed killer on athletic fields, in parking lots, along fence lines, and for conventional or organic crop production.

SummerSet will continue testing this year, and some tests will look at the efficacy of AllDown on weeds that are resistant to synthetic herbicides.

In December 2001, SummerSet Products received word, from the EPA consulting firm they had worked with for three years, that all of the ingredients in AllDown were exempt from the requirements of the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act.

With that exemption, the team realized they had a product of interest to commercial farmers.

SummerSet Products exhibited AllDown at the early March Upper Midwest Organic Farming Conference in LaCrosse, Wis.

"I've never had so much reaction to a product," said Marrs. People ran up to our booth and said 'We have waited for a product like this for so many years.'"

Mathiason and Marrs, along with Neil's father, Carl, and Paul's son, Bruce, develop and market products under the SummerSet Products label. Their products include a 2-3-3 plant growth supplement/biostimulant and a 10-0-3 phosphate-free fertilizer for turf use.

With the expected growth of the company, SummerSet Products is offering stock to potential investors.

SummerSet Products hopes to get AllDown on the Organic Materials Review Institute (OMRI) list of approved products for organic use yet this spring.

OMRI publishes lists of generic and brand name materials allowed and prohibited for use in the production, processing, and handling of organic food and fiber.

"We're just trying to get AllDown available to producers for this growing season with the OMRI approval," said Marrs.

With OMRI approval, many organic certification agencies would allow farmers to use AllDown in their organic operations. Organic farmers have depended heavily on cultivating, hand picking and soil management techniques to minimize weeds - sometimes that's been a losing battle.

With an effective non-synthetic, non-GMO-derived herbicide, farmers could have a new tool to increase production.

Marrs and others are hoping that AllDown becomes that tool.

Send mail to Dawn - dawn@summersetproducts.com or Tony - tony@summersetproducts.com with questions or comments about this web site.
Last modified: September 04, 2003