When it comes to managing weeds, lawn care contractors simply want a product that works. Few are intensely loyal to a given brand of herbicide, and most haven't even had any experience with the majority of the brands out there.
According to a Brand Favorability survey completed by Green Industry PRO magazine subscribers, only 2% of contractors (on average) don't like a given brand of herbicide. At the same time, just 3% identify a specific brand as being the best.
The overwhelming majority of contractors fall somewhere in the middle. The percentage that has no opinion of a given brand ranges from 51-94%, depending on the brand (see listings below). The percentage that has a favorable opinion of a given brand ranges from 4-46%.
For example, the most popular brand out there, Bayer, received just a 46% favorability rating. At the same time, 51% said they had no opinion of the Bayer brand, while 3% said they did not like the Bayer brand.
The below data shows how each of the more well-known brands of lawn care herbicides performed on the survey:
Brand ….. % with Favorable Opinion ….. % with No Opinion
Arysta Life Science ….. 4% ….. 94%
BASF ….. 26% ….. 70%
Bayer ….. 46% ….. 51%
Dow ….. 33% ….. 64%
DuPont ….. 39% ….. 57%
Fiesta (Engage Agro USA) ….. 8% ….. 89%
FMC ….. 17% ….. 79%
Monsanto ….. 39% ….. 55%
Nufarm ….. 14% ….. 83%
PBI/Gordon ….. 35% ….. 62%
Quali-Pro ….. 12% ….. 85%
Syngenta ….. 27% ….. 70%
Valent ….. 12% ….. 85%
EDITOR’S NOTE: Favorable opinion represents contractors who answered either “like them” or “they are the best” on the survey. Other options were “don’t like them” and “no opinion”.
