Using Seed Treatments To Nourish And Protect
November 1, 2016 As the nation’s largest ag retailer by revenue, Crop Production Services (CPS) conducts its business in virtually every state in the country. This means that the company’s outlets have to deal with myriad soil, weather, and environmental conditions. And in many cases, CPS facilities have found that employing some form of seed treatment option can aid in these efforts.
Take the story of CPS in Owensboro, KY, for example. Originally part of the Miles Farm Supply group of retail outlets, CPS Owensboro has been offering various seed treatment options to its grower-customers since the early 2000s. In fact, according to Jason Barlow, Crop Consultant for the outlet, CPS Owensboro’s customers have had great success for years using Consensus® from Loveland Products on their soybeans for many years. “In our part of Kentucky, excess water in the soil can be a problem,” says Barlow.
For a few seasons now, CPS Owensboro customers have used Consensus as part of liquid seed treatment option called Dyna-Start® PBC. This co-pack features Consensus, which combines chitosan, salicylic acid, and idole-3-butyric acid to promote faster germination and root development, Dyna-Start Bradyrhizobium japonicum inoculant for nitrogen-fixing nodulation, and Extender to provide a longer pre-plant application window.
Employing this approach, Barlow says CPS Owensboro’s customers have seen a dramatic improvement in their soybean performances. “On average, growers using Dyna-Start PBC have reported a seven to eight bushel per acre yield increase,” he says.
North Dakota Needs
Further north, wet conditions aren’t as much of a problem for the CPS location in Jamestown, ND. However, says Nate Cook, Location Manager, soybean seeds in this part of the country are still looking for ways to improve germination and root development in their fields. “They are also looking to protect their seeds from pests,” adds Cook.
To accomplish this, CPS Jamestown has offered its customers Equity® VIP seed treatment for their soybeans. A five-way insecticide/fungicide option, Equity VIP contains Vibrance® from Syngenta (sedaxane), active against seed decay, seedling blight, and damping off caused by Rhizoctonia species; mefenoxam, to protect against Pythium, Phytophthora, and systemic downy mildew; thiabendazole, to guard against phomopsis spp. and suppress Sclerotinia; fludioxonil, active against Fusarium and Rhizoctonia as well as suppress seed-borne Sclerotinia and Phomopsis species; and thiamethoxam, which provide protection against listed early season insects.
“This insect piece of Equity VIP isn’t used a lot in our area, but it can mean that the growers don’t have to have an extra soybean aphid spraying done during the season,” says Cook.
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