By Jerry Ries, Research and Product Analyst, West Central Distribution
The sugarbeet spray season is well on its way. Many decisions still need to be made prior to harvest. But as we know, Mother Nature will likely throw plenty of curveballs the rest of the season.
Several decisions will likely need to be made in a short amount of time, no matter how much pre-planning was done. A strong plan is still the best recommendation to make sure you end up with the best results come harvest.
Take a Proactive Approach
First, start by asking questions about your situation. Early in the season you might be thinking things such as: What is the soil temperature? Is it the right temperature to enhance the germination of the seed to grow into a strong and vigorous plant? Is it conducive for early emerging weeds to germinate?
Then, start to consider and prepare for the impact of rain, as it often comes in too little, too much or at the wrong time. Although rain never seems to fall in the perfect amount, it greatly influences in-season spray decisions about herbicide, fungicide and insecticide applications.
Growers are aware of the trials and tribulations during the growing season, but there are a few proactive things that can be done to maximize pesticide spray applications, including:
1. Scouting for weeds, insects, and diseases.
2. Identifying the weeds, insects and diseases.
3. Determining the correct rate of pesticides needed.
4. Determining the correct adjuvant and rate needed to increase pesticide performance.
5. Determining the correct nozzle, application rate, and environment that is needed.
It is imperative growers understand the different herbicide sites of action (SOA), and how they play a vital role in weed resistance management; the different modes of action (MOA) to manage disease resistance; and the Insecticide Resistance Action Committee (IRAC) groups in insect management. Ultimately understanding how we can lower and slow resistance in our fields.
Leverage Pesticide Partners
When it comes to pesticide applications, many say timing is everything—and it’s true. Growers should also consider using proper tank-mix partners and adjuvants to help them accomplish the desired results.
According to ASTM, the definition of an adjuvant is “A material added to a tank mix to aid or modify the action of an agrichemical, or the physical characteristics of the mixture.” This includes anything added to the tank-mix to enhance the spray solution.
Depending on the specific adjuvant, benefits include:
* Aiding in droplet formation and deposition.
* Reducing surface tension on a plant leaf surface.
* Helping droplets stay hydrated longer on the leaf surface to prolong the pesticide uptake into the plant.
West Central Distribution offers a full line of adjuvants that can be added to your spray application.
From the more standard adjuvants like nonionic surfactants, methylated seed oils, and water conditioning agents to adjuvants specifically designed to work with everything from conventional crops to the latest herbicide-resistant crops.
West Central’s newest adjuvants include the Elite Adjuvants. The Elite Adjuvant lineup can be used across all conventional and herbicide resistant traits, burndowns applications, fungicide and insecticide applications. The Elite Adjuvant lineup includes Veracity Elite, Veracity Elite II, Jackhammer Elite and Cerium Elite. The Elite lineup products are all low-use rate products, making them very convenient for the retailer and grower.
* Veracity Elite is an all-in-one adjuvant, containing a water conditioner, surfactant, defoamer and drift reduction agent with a low use rate of 2 qt/100 gal.
* Veracity Elite II offers the same benefits as Veracity Elite, but has stronger drift control characteristics and is a DRA approved adjuvant with XtendiMax with VaporGrip Technology, Engenia and FeXapan herbicide Plus VaporGrip Technology.
* Jackhammer Elite is an unsurpassed surfactant/water conditioning agent combination that increases absorption into the target plants, improves droplet coverage and canopy penetration, and slows droplet drying.
* Cerium Elite is a surfactant that can be used to replace the traditional crop oil concentrate and is extremely effective in reducing drift and off-target movement. With a low use rate of 1 qt/100 gal, this multi-functional adjuvant can be used with herbicides, fungicides, insecticides, defoliant and desiccants, where a crop oil or a nonionic surfactant is recommended.
The Perfect Partner
As sugarbeet producers are actively applying their fungicide programs, various situations like environment, known resistance, disease pressure and forecasts could mean as many as four to five fungicide applications are needed for one field. This management process is intensive, expensive and time consuming.
One important way to enhance application is to apply the fungicide with Cerium Elite. This adjuvant improves the efficacy of the products in the spray tank. When discussing fungicide applications, growers need to consider deposition, retention, and longevity of the active ingredient being applied.
Cerium Elite brings excellent deposition properties, and improves droplet formation by creating a more consistent-sized droplet. Small droplets are reduced to prevent off-target movement, and large droplets are reduced to help droplets stick to the leaf surface.
Cerium Elite is a high efficacy nonionic surfactant (NIS), which lowers the surface tension on the leaf surface. When a spray droplet lands on a leaf surface without a quality NIS, it will form a ball-shaped droplet which contacts the leaf surface at one point and limits the surface area where the droplet can be absorbed into the plant. With a premium NIS like Cerium Elite, the droplet will spread out on the leaf surface overcoming the surface tension, creating a droplet with more surface area on the plant and effectively allowing more uptake of the spray.
With the benefits of lowering the surface tension from a high-quality NIS, excellent deposition and crop canopy penetration and humectant properties, Cerium Elite will help bring leading edge technology and performance to your fungicide applications.
About the Author
Jerry Ries works for West Central Distribution as a research and product analyst on its product development team. His role is to aid in product research with university and private contractors to develop private label products for distribution.
West Central Distribution is based in Willmar, Minn., and recently celebrated its 40th anniversary. The company has grown from a local agricultural distribution company to a national presence with 22 warehouse locations and dealer customers in 25 states. West Central is focused on helping local dealers with product and services that are needed by growers in their geography.