3 New Seed Treatment Products For #Plant18
If seeds don’t emerge or make it much past emergence, then farmers could have trouble in the form of a replant or lower yields. Consider how new seed treatments could protect the farmer’s investment in your seed products.
Bayer, Incotec and BASF are introducing new seed treatments with different benefits. Bayer’s offers soil enhancements for better fertilizer uptake, Incotec’s offers additional ease of planting as well as emergence benefits and BASF’s offers longer disease protection.
Poncho Votivo 2.0. Bayer is introducing Poncho Votivo 2.0 to select customers in 2018. This year’s launch is through a partnership with Beck’s Hybrids. For the introductory launch, the company has supplies for up to 1 million acres. The full commercial launch will be 2019.
“It’s the Poncho Votivo product everyone trusts, and the 2.0 adds a second complementary bacterium to the product,” explains Jennifer
Riggs, Bayer SeedGrowth product development manager.
The new seed treatment uses Flexiboost technology by Bayer. The bacteria deliver proteins and enzymes to the soil, specifically endoglucanase, which breaks crop residue into sugar. The more active the microbials, the more effectively they use organic matter and put nutrients back into the root environment.
According to Riggs, the product lasts through the critical growing period, 60 days to 90 days.
L-650 Coating. Incotec says its new slick coating will help ease clumping, sticking and other issues that could occur at planting.
“L-650 delivers significant benefits in handling, planting and low dust-off,” says Terry Meyer, research manager for North and South America at Incotec. “L-650 can be used in the application of pesticides and nutrients to corn, soybeans, wheat, edible beans, popcorn, rice, sweet corn, garbanzo beans and more.”
“Measurements show that L-650-treated seeds rival untreated seeds, flowing as fast, and in many cases faster, than untreated seeds,” Meyer adds. “This all ties into better singulation and plantability.”
Incotec provides L-650 and other products to seed companies and retailers, though specific details are confidential. If L-650 is offered in your area, then the company says you can expect the following benefits:
- Provides better dry time for faster seed coating
- Reduced tack and clumping
- Improved wet and dry flow times
- Minimized dust (40% to 60% drop versus standard)
- Enhanced abrasion resistance
Germination quality retained for up to 24 months and possibly longer; evaluation still underway
The product is relatively new to corn—it’s entering its second season—and is in its third season with soybeans and wheat. The company provided details about L-650 at the 2017 Exceed the Seed Conference, where Farm Journal gained the exclusive details.
Stamina F4. A cereals fungicide seed treatment by BASF, Stamina F4 recently gained Environmental Protection Agency registration. This wheat seed treatment is the first time the company has brought the Xemium fungicide as a seed treatment into a cereal crop.
“It features longer term residual disease control because it translocates so well throughout the plant,” says Justin Clark, who works as a BASF technical marketing manager. “Adding Xemium gives growers a better solution against Fusarium disease complexes.”
Stamina F4 combines Xemium-brand fungicides and F500 technologies. It offers cold tolerance, emergence and disease protection against Rhizoctonia, Fusarium and pythium. The company says the long-term control helps farmers lose fewer plants to early diseases; more wheat plants per acre directly translates to yield. Also, a crop evenly emerging and developing can improve the effectiveness of late-season management, such as fungicide applications, because all plants will need the treatment at the same time.
Stamina F4 is a ready-to-use formulation for commercial or on-farm application. BASF is currently seeking state registrations.
