Potato growers intending to apply powder treatments to seed tubers at planting this year should check they are set up with the required engineering controls, according to crop protection specialists.
Although on-planter applicators have been available for nearly fifteen years, Colin Rennie, potato specialist at CSC Crop Protection, believes around half of growers are still not using them. “The larger, more professional growers, who are better equipped in general, have adopted them and seen the benefits. On-planter application puts 100 per cent of the treatment where it’s meant to go - on the seed tubers - and more accurate application means improved disease control,” he said.
It is estimated two-thirds of potato growers use powder-formulated tuber treatments, like Monceren DS, to control seed-borne Rhizoctonia and reduce stem canker development in the growing crop. Rennie’s experience is that on-planter applicators minimise the risk of operator exposure and eliminate the possibility of product being blown in to the environment, which can happen with hand sprinkling.
“A common method of manual application is by scattering the treatment over the surface of seed tubers stored in bulk boxes, before tipping them in to the planter hopper. Inevitably this can leave some product staining in the boxes, which is not a problem if they are only used for seed, but there have been accidental cases of growers subsequently using them to store ware tubers,” said Rennie.
Frontier Agriculture’s Clare Barker has been encouraged by increasing interest from growers in switching to on-planter application since the new Digimon digital control system was introduced 18 months ago.
Developed jointly by Team Sprayers and Bayer CropScience, it simplifies calibration of Team’s on-planter powder applicators and maintains their accuracy automatically within plus or minus five per cent of the target.
“Digimon is the way forward for accurate and safe application of powder treatments to seed tubers. The COSHH regulations require that engineering control of operator exposure must be used where reasonably practicable. So it’s time for growers still applying manually to be thinking seriously about switching to the engineering alternative,” said Barker.
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