Clean Water. Clean Kill. Every Time.

Every Spray Counts & Performance Starts With Water

From pre-drilling glyphosate to in-crop systemic herbicides, what happens in the tank directly influences what happens at the target.

While glyphosate has driven awareness around water quality, the same principles apply to many other susceptible herbicides used across arable and grassland systems.

If herbicide is tied up in the tank, it can’t be recovered at the target.

Why Partial Performance Loss is Hard to See

Hard water rarely causes complete failure.

Instead, it causes subtle reductions in uptake:

• Slower activity
• Reduced consistency
• Increased field-to-field variability

The spray still works – just not at its full potential.

Over time, these small losses can quietly erode programme performance and reliability. A treatment that delivers slightly less control may still look acceptable in the short-term, but surviving weeds contribute seed return, competition and resistance pressure. 

Which beaker contains hard water?

If Water Quality Matters, Why Isn’t It Routine?

You're right. Testing and addressing water quality issues with susceptible herbicides should be routine. But historically, water conditioning has often been:

• Overlooked - hard water is not obvious
• Considered relevant only for glyphosate
• Seen as complicated or time-consuming to deal with
• Difficult to measure in real farm conditions

Water quality is not a new topic. Better testing tools, clearer guidance, and purpose-designed true water conditioners now make a water-first routine practical and easily achievable. Protecting herbicide performance doesn’t require complexity – just consistency.

Step 3 – Dose Based on Hardness

Condition water consistently and dose according to your water hardness test result, especially when applying:

• Glyphosate
• Sulphonylureas
• Dims
• Phenoxies
• Other Group 4 herbicide auxin mimics

Protect Susceptible Herbicides With a True Water Conditioner

Always use a true water conditioner such as X‑Change, specifically designed to protect susceptible herbicides from hard water deactivation.

X‑Change works by:

• Binding calcium and other polyvalent cations contributing to water hardness
• Acting sacrificially to prevent interaction with active ingredients
• Buffering the spray solution to pH 5
• Supporting droplet hydration
• Including built-in anti-foam for efficient tank mixing

By conditioning water first and dosing correctly, X-Change ensures herbicides remain fully available for uptake – maximising consistency and reliability.

Protect Performance. Protect Chemistry. Every Time

Recent seasons have highlighted the importance of optimising glyphosate performance, particularly as resistance pressure increases and confirmed cases of resistant ryegrass reinforce the need to protect efficacy.

But glyphosate is only part of the picture.

Many systemic herbicides are influenced by water quality. Each time uptake is reduced, even slightly, weed control becomes less reliable and pressure on chemistry increases.

A consistent, water-first approach helps:

Small improvements at the start of the spray process protect results all the way to the field.