Atrazine

While Glyphosate may be the most commonly used herbicide to treat for invasive weeds in the United States, close behind is another herbicide known as Atrazine. Because Glyphosate has been so widely used, crops and plants have adapted over time to become more resistant to Glyphosate and as a result, Atrazine was formed to battle against those resistant plants. In fact, many agricultural experts recommend mixing Atrazine with glyphosate to combat Glyphosate-resistant plants.

On this page, you can learn some interesting facts about this herbicide, how it works as well as shop our recommended Atrazine-based herbicides.

What is Atrazine?

Atrazine is a herbicide from the triazine class of herbicides and is the second most widely used herbicide in the US, with nearly 80 million pounds of Atrazine used yearly. Atrazine plays an important part in the agricultural industry. Atrazine provide successful results as a pre-emergent and as a post-emergent and is primarily used to control broadleaf and grassy weeds that invade crops such as sorghum, corn, sugarcane, pine among other important plants.

How Does Atrazine Work?

Mode of Action

Atrazine selectively kills target weeds, interfering with the plants growth and causes the plant to die. Atrazine works by interfering with photosynthesis. Photosynthesis— unique to green, living plants—happens when light energy is converted to chemical energy needed for food production. Simply put, when food production stops, plants eventually starve to death. 

Benefits of Atrazine

Atrazine works as both a pre-emergent when applied to the soil and post-emergent onto the grown plants themselves making it quite a versatile herbicide. It also eliminates weed competition, making all the soil nutrients and moisture go to the crop rather than the weed.

The fact that Atrazine is a selective herbicide, meaning it could kill weeds without injuring the crop, has made it exceptionally popular among the agricultural industry. Aside from the benefits it brings to agricultural farmers, Atrazine can also be used for residential weed control to improve the aesthetics of lawns. Atrazine is a popular weed control tool because it is economical to use, extremely effective against a spectrum of weeds, and very safe to the crop. Research has documented the benefits of atrazine to the bottom line for growers

Use Atrazine on your landscape when you want to target stubborn or persistent weeds that have become Glyphosate-resistant.

Drawbacks of Atrazine

Atrazine, much like Glyphosate, can also become ineffective when overuse leads to resistance from target weeds. In addition, while it is a selective active ingredient, there are some grass types that you should not use Atrazine on. Atrazine is a slow-acting weed so you will have to be patient and persistent in order to see satisfying results. Atrazine is also a restricted-use active ingredient and cannot be purchased without an applicator's license. 

Do not use Atrazine if you have a lawn that is not St. Augustine or Centipedegrass. (For example, if you have a Bermudagrass lawn, you should not use Atrazine for weed control. Check the label for specifics). Also, do not use Atrazine if rainfall is on the forecast as it may decrease the effectiveness of the product.

Is Atrazine Safe?

Atrazine is safe to use when applied according to label directions. Please keep pets and children off the treated area until the ground has had time to completely dry. Also please make sure to wear the proper Personal Protective Equipment when handling this product (safety gloves, goggles, long sleeve clothes and possibly a respiratory safety mask.)

What To Expect

How long it takes to see results from an application of Atrazine can vary somewhat, depending on what type of weeds you are targeting. Typically, Atrazine is a very slow-acting herbicide, and it can take up to 4 to 6 weeks after application to see desired results and death of the target weed.

Featured Products

Atrazine 4L Herbicide - A restricted use herbicide, Atrazine 4L herbicide is used for season long weed control in turf grasses. Atrazine 4L will control most annual broadleaf and grass weeds in corn, sorghum, sugarcane, and certain other crops as specified on the label.