Go automated for 2010 seed treatment Potato growers who use powder treatments for rhizoctonia control at planting and who are seeking the benefits of enhanced seed treatment activity are being urged to fit a seed treatment applicator to planters in advance of the 2010 season. Offering unique 3-way protectant, curative and systemic properties RhiNo DS (flutolanil) must now be applied using an automated applicator as a result of a regulatory label change, which removes the option for manual application of the product. David Turner of Turner Agriculture is a potato specialist in tuber application treatment and applauds the change as an improvement in industry standards. "This is not a case of an over zealous health and safety regulatory system," says Mr Turner. "I would actually not recommend some of the manual application methods that put the operator in close proximity to the powder treatment and which often results in poor tuber coverage." An automated applicator gradually dispenses the powder treatment to the seed tubers through a hopper on the planter with no need for manual operation. "The applicator can be calibrated to ensure an accurate and even spread over the tubers. There is no wasted product and the whole operation is highly efficient," he says, noting that even with the systemic activity of RhiNo even tuber coverage remains an important objective in order to ensure optimum product performance. "I also strongly believe that in time all powder treatments will have to be applied by this method. It has already happened on the continent and makes investment in an automated system highly worthwhile." He adds that it is a trend he is already starting to see. "I was pleasantly surprised to see the buoyancy of the market in automated application kit at BP2009 and that was before the label change for RhiNo DS was widely known. Automation is the way forward." Robert Lidstone is Certis’ marketing manager for RhiNo DS and points out that the systemic action of RhiNo confers some protection from soil-borne rhizoctonia infection as well as providing known activity against all the various strains, or anastomosis groups of the disease. He too believes that the new label change is an opportunity to drive up standards in potato seed treatment. "Operator exposure is an important issue for the use of pesticides in agriculture and as an industry we need to prove we are operating at the highest level," he says. "Automation can also bring benefits of improved tuber coverage and greater planting efficiency and will pay dividends in enhanced tuber quality with a reduction in over-all planting time taken." |