With a hot dry summer anticipated for the coming season in many regions, insects have the potential of becoming a real problem in crops this year. Therefore, insect control needs to be considered throughout the different stages of any crop from germination through until the crop is utilised.
We have a handy ‘Summer cropping insecticide guide’ which summarises the range of products we have available and the fit in terms of crop, and target pest(s) you are looking to control.
Once young plants start to grow, insect pests such as cutworm can devastate crops quickly with severely damaged crops having to be re-sown. Kaiso 50WG is the go-to product here with its unique Sorbie Technology providing good persistence and also repellence, enabling application both pre or post emergence of the crop.
If you are wanting a broad-spectrum insecticide for use in fodder crops to control all major pests including leaf miner, aphids, Nysius (wheat bug), springtails, Argentine stem weevil and the caterpillars of diamondback moth and white butterfly then Attack is a fantastic option. It’s the ultimate all-rounder covering almost all crops and all growth stages. Attack contains a combination of two chemicals providing protection via, contact, ingestion, fumigant activity, translaminar movement and finally repellency.
With most insecticides, a big part of the battle is ensuring your chosen product(s) get to where they need to. As the old saying goes ‘coverage is king’, which is certainly true when targeting these often-cryptic pests and this is where a good quality adjuvant becomes a key component in your tank.
Nufarm has two options within its range, Flume and Contact Xcel which can be added to agricultural and horticultural sprays to enhance coverage of leaf surfaces.
The decision to use Flume or Contact Xcel or depends on the intended water rates.
Contact Xcel (a ‘non-ionic surfactant) is recommended for most agricultural insecticides, when use at standard water rates to improve coverage. I typically use 50mls/100Ls of water.
Flume is described as a ‘super-spreader’ which offers significantly improved spreading over standard spreaders and the ability to significantly reduce water rates.
There are a couple of ways to show this, the first (in the graph below) shows the spreading area of a single droplet on a cabbage leaf. Note that Flume provides a 500% increase in spreading area of a droplet.
Secondly the two videos below show this visually. The first video shows blue fluro dyed water being sprayed onto a cabbage leaf surface. Note the amount of droplets that bounce or roll off the leaf surface, providing poor coverage. The second video shows Flume included at ‘concentrate spray rates’. Note the significant increase in plant/leaf coverage with lower water rates.
Water only, dilute spray
Sprayed Fluro Water – View Video
FLUME, concentrate spray
Sprayed FLUME – View Video
In addition to the increased coverage “the other major benefits from using half the amount of water per hectare is that a tank goes twice as far which saves time and money.
If you haven’t seen Flume in action before, hopefully the following two videos demonstrate what I have explained above, or better yet reach out to your local Nufarm TM for a practical demonstration as seeing this in action was what converted me.
Patrick Bissett – Territory Manger for Nelson, Marlborough & West Coast
Find your local Territory Manager here
