the following description is merely exemplary in nature and is not intended to limit the present disclosure , application , claims , compositions , or uses . while the invention has been particularly shown and described with reference to a number of embodiments , it would be understood by those skilled in the art that changes in the form and details may be made to the various embodiments disclosed herein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention and that the various embodiments disclosed herein are not intended to act as limitations on the scope of the claims . all percentages and the term “ w / w ” used herein unless specifically stated are percent by weight , and all component amounts recited as “ parts ” are parts by weight and are usually on a basis of parts per part of the active ingredient . the term “ ppm ” is parts per million by weight . when salts of components are mentioned , unless otherwise specifically stated , the composition can contain the acid form of the component , one or more salts of the component , or any mixture thereof . the aprotic solvent is preferably a pyrrolidone such as nmp , though one or more of dimethylsulfoxide ( dmso ), dimethylformamide , and gamma - butyrolactone alone or in mixtures , including mixtures with nmp , are useful . dmso and gamma - butyrolactone dissolve 0 . 24 to 0 . 25 grams prodiamine per gram solvent . nmp dissolves 0 . 68 grams prodiamine per gram solvent . the aprotic solvent is the primary solvent in most embodiments of the ec . there are a number of solvents that are not suitable and would be included only to change the composition . examples , and solubility of prodiamine in grams ai per gram solvent , are shown below for completeness . fatty amides , also called “ fatty acid solvents ” in this application , are amides formed from a fatty acid and an amine , of which many are known . preferred are di - substituted fatty acid amides , which include as non - limiting examples n , n - dimethylcaprylamide ( available from cognis as agnique ™ ke - 3658 ), and n , n - diethyloctanamide ( available as halcomid ™ m8 - 10 ). these compounds can fully or partially replace aprotic solvents , and the solvating capacity approaches that of less - preferred aprotic solvents such as dmso and gamma - butyrolactone , that is , 0 . 24 to 0 . 25 grams prodiamine per gram solvent . a mixture of c8 and c10 fatty acid dimethylamide , ( cas 1118 - 92 - 9 and 14433 - 76 - 2 ) are useful . the alkyl - alkoxylate - based emulsifier is typically an alkyl - based eo / po - containing block copolymer emulsifier , for example an ethylene oxide / propylene oxide alkyl ( e . g ., butyl ) block copolymer . it is possible to use suitable co - polymers of ethylene oxide and propylene oxide , such as aba or bab block copolymer or ba block copolymers . the alkyl group can range from c3 to c7 , for example . a preferred group of ethylene oxide / propylene oxide block copolymers for use in the compositions of this invention are butyl based poly ( oxypropylene ) poly ( oxyethylene ) block copolymers having an average molecular weight in a range of 2 , 400 to 3 , 500 ( e . g . toximul ™ 8320 , stepan chemical co .) also useful is harcros ™ tda - 12 . the hydrophilic non - ionic emulsifier can be a ethoxylated alcohol . a c9 to c18 alcohol can be used , with for example 8 to 20 eo units , for example a tridecyl alcohol hydrophilic non - ionic emulsifier . examples include makon ™ td - 12 , a tridecyl alcohol ethoxylate , poe - 12 available from stepan , or harcros tda - 12 . generally an anionic emulsifier can provide added emulsion stability , and alkyl sulfonates are useful for this purpose , for example a fatty acid benzene sulfonate , particularly calcium salts of dodecylbenzenesulfonate . the following examples are provided for illustrative purposes only and are not limiting to this disclosure in any way . indeed , various modifications of the invention , in addition to those shown and described herein , will become apparent to those skilled in the art from the following examples and the foregoing description . such modifications are also intended to fall within the scope of the appended claims . a first prodiamine ec composition # 1 is shown in table 1 below . various embodiments of the formulations disclosed herein , when formulated into a herbicidal composition , show a surprising and unexpected performance in efficacy and low phytotoxicity for general residential and commercial landscaped herbicide treatment as well as for direct application to urea and other fertilizers for superior pre - emergence weed control . to demonstrate this activity , a series of trials were performed and are described below . field test 1 objective was to evaluate example 1 ( table 1 ) formulation efficacy on pre - emerge crabgrass ( digitaria ischaemum ) against market standard ( s ) in latour , mo . other products tested were barricade 4l at 22 fl . oz ./ acre ( 0 . 68 lb prodiamine / acre ), dimension 40wp at 0 . 6 lb ./ acre ( 0 . 24 lb dithiopyr / acre ), and example 1 at 43 . 56 fl . oz . per acre ( 0 . 68 lb . prodiamine / acre ). test data , percent crabgrass in stand at 58 and 100 days after treatment , are shown below . the differences between treatments were not statistically significant . barricade 4l at 22 fl . oz ./ acre ( 0 . 68 lb prodiamine / acre ): june 5 , 2 %, and july 17 , 39 % dimension 40wp at 0 . 6 lb ./ acre ( 0 . 24 lb dithiopyr / acre ): june 5 , 2 %, and july 17 , 32 % example 1 at 43 . 56 fl . oz ./ acre ( 0 . 68 lb . prodiamine / acre ): june 5 , 2 %, and july 17 , 43 % field test # 2 , to compare barricade to example 1 prodiamine 2 ec for turfgrass safety . 3 × log study on bluegrass poa pratensis in latour , mo . treatments were applied with an application volume of 43 . 56 gallons per acre as a foliar spray . active ingredients were logged at ¼ steps with a reduction in ai by 25 % from the previous step . data at 3 , 7 , and 14 days after treatment are below , with damage on a scale of 0 - 9 . field test # 2 showed no phytotoxicity was observed barricade 4fl , and for example 1 ( prodiamine 2ec ) at 3dat only slightly phytotoxic at step 1 and 2 application rates . step 1 was slightly phytotoxic at 7dat and no phytotoxicity at 14dat . field test # 3 was to compare barricade to experimental prodiamine 2 ec for turfgrass safety . a 3 × log study was done on tall fescue ( festuca arundinacea ) in latour , mo . treatments were applied with an application volume of 43 . 56 gallons per acre via foliar spray . active ingredients were logged at ¼ steps with a reduction in ai by 25 % from the previous step . step 1 is the starting full ai load rate followed by a 25 % ai reduction from the previous step through step 6 . initial application was 72 fl . oz . barricade 4fl per acre ( 2 . 25 lb prodiamine / a ), and example 1 ( prodiamine 2ec ) was applied at 115 fl . oz . per acre ( 1 . 8 lb / a ). conclusion : for barricade 4fl no phytotoxicity was observed , and for prodiamine 2ec at the high rate ( step 1 ) only slight visual phytotoxicity was observed throughout the study . a stable prodiamine ec formulation called pa - 1010 is shown in table 4 below : field test 1 - 2012 evaluated turfgrass phytotoxicity using the example 4 ( table 4 ) formulation . the test was performed by virginia tech university ( blacksburg , va . ), test # 63 - 12 , on kentucky bluegrass ( midnight ) at 0 . 6 ″ fairway mowing height in an irrigated site with irrigation received as needed . the grass was treated may 29 , 2012 . no injury to midnight ky bluegrass observed throughout the study ( 28 days ). no significant differences in % turfgrass cover were noted compared to the untreated control 28 days after the test was initiated . pa - 1010 was applied at 40 fl . oz . per acre . % turfgrass cover days after application ( da - a ) 9 17 28 0 28 pa - 1010 turfgrass injury (%) 0 0 0 % turfgrass cover 71 . 3 61 . 3 untreated turfgrass injury (%) 0 0 0 % turfgrass cover 77 . 5 68 . 8 there was no statistically significant difference between the treated blocks and the control . field test 2 - 2012 evaluated turfgrass phytotoxicity using the example 4 ( table 4 ) formulation . the test was performed by virginia tech university ( blacksburg , va . ), test # 64 - 12 , on perennial ryegrass ( asp6004 ) at 0 . 6 ″ fairway mowing height in an irrigated site with irrigation received as needed . the grass was treated may 29 , 2012 . pa - 1010 was applied at 40 fl . oz . per acre . no injury to perennial ryegrass observed throughout the study ( 28 days ). no significant differences in % turfgrass cover were noted compared to the untreated control 28 days after the test was initiated . % turfgrass cover days after application ( da - a ) 10 17 28 0 28 pa - 1010 turfgrass injury (%) 0 0 0 % turfgrass cover 72 . 5 65 untreated turfgrass injury (%) 0 0 0 % turfgrass cover 72 . 5 63 . 8 there was no statistically significant difference between the treated blocks and the control . field test 3 - 2012 was conducted to test if application of pa - 1010 results in phytotoxicity to desired cool season turfgrasses . the turf species tested was kentucky bluegrass ( poa pratensis ) that had a small amount of perennial ryegrass ( lolium perenne ). the study was conducted at the ohio turfgrass foundation research and education center in columbus , ohio . the sites of the experiment was weed - free . individual treatment plots were 3 × 6 ft and there were treatments and an untreated control ( table 1 ). the experimental design was a randomized complete block with 3 replications . the experiments were all established on jun . 5 , 2012 . pa - 1010 was applied at 40 fl oz per acre . a backpack carbon dioxide sprayer equipped with 6503 nozzles with a spray pressure of 40 psi was used to apply the products with the equivalent of 2 gal h 2 o / 1000 ft 2 . turfgrass phytotoxicity data were collected at 7 , 14 , and 28 days after application of treatments ( dat ) by visually estimating percent injury to the turfgrass on a scale of 0 to 10 with 0 = no injury and 10 = dead turfgrass . the data were analyzed using the general linear models procedure of sas . fishers protected lsd was conducted on the data . barely noticeable injury symptoms were noted in all treated plots at 7 dat ( table 1 ). this was primarily a very light chlorosis . however , none of the differences were statistically significant . the rates tested caused no injury significantly different than the untreated plots at 14 dat . at 28 dat no phytotoxicity was noted . finally , though the rating for plots treated with treatment 4 was numerically lower , there were no significant quality differences observed at 43 dat . pa - 1010 was safe to kentucky bluegrass at all rates tested . treated and control blocks showed 0 . 3 damage at day 7 and 0 . 0 damage at days 14 and 28 , where zero is no damage and 10 is dead turf turf quality for both treated and untreated was rated 7 . 0 at 43 days after testing . field test 4 - 2012 performed at southeastern turfgrass research & amp ; consulting , llc ( lexington , ky .) to evaluate phytotoxicity on a stand of well - managed lawn - height tall fescue turf tall fescue ( barrington / barlexas / barvado tall fescue blend by barenbrug ) at 3 . 5 ″ lawn mowing height was treated on jul . 23 , 2012 . pa - 1010 was applied at 40 fl . oz . per acre . no phytotoxicity was observed at any rating period . turfgrass quality , where 1 = brown , dead turf and 9 = perfect green turf , was 6 . 5 for the treated plots at day 6 versus 6 . 8 for untreated control . at days 20 and 26 after treatment , turfgrass quality was identical between treated and untreated blocks , measuring 7 . 0 in all cases . field test 5 - 2012 by southeastern turfgrass research & amp ; consulting , llc evaluated phytotoxicity at a field between a pond and trees in lexington , ky . tall fescue at 3 . 5 inches was in 44 sand , 48 % silt , 8 % clay , om : 3 . 9 loam with a cec of 9 . 4 and a ph of 6 . 1 . fertilizer level was poor . appliccation was by co2 sprayer at 30 psi , applying 40 fl . oz . per acre of pa - 1010 on may 24 , 2012 . the test showed minor differences in turf quality at day 15 between treated and untreated , and results were identical between treated and untreated on days 21 and 28 after treatment . field test 6 - 2012 was conducted at the landscape horticulture research center at the university of illinois - urbana / champaign in urbana , ill . treatments were applied to a mature stand of kentucky bluegrass l . cv . ‘ bewitched ’ maintained at a 0 . 875 - inch height of cut . the experimental design used was a randomized complete block with four replications and plots measured 4 × 6 feet . treatments were applied with a backpack - type co2 sprayer at 32psi fitted with vs8002 nozzles ( teejet technologies , wheaton , ill .) and a spray volume of 50 gallons acre - 1 . treatments were applied on jun . 27 , 2012 . pa - 1010 was applied at 40 fl . oz . per acre . kentucky bluegrass injury was rated on a scale of 0 - 10 with 0 = none and 10 = dead turf . kentucky bluegrass quality was rated on a scale of 1 - 9 where , 1 = low and 9 = high quality . kentucky bluegrass density was rated on a scale of 1 - 9 where , 1 = open , 6 = typical normal density and 9 = very dense . this study experienced record breaking high temperatures during the first 2 weeks of the trial . the first eleven days of the trial had 5 days over 90 and 6 days at or over 100 degrees f . the average high temperature for the first eleven days was 98 . 5 f ! no phytotoxicity was observed and treated plots showed higher quality and density than untreated control .
an herbicidal emulsifiable concentrate composition that contains prodiamine herbicide that shows excellent spreadability and stability and is particularly suitable for effective control of weeds in general residential and commercial landscaped areas .