Protecting your seed from day one is an important way to guarantee better performance throughout the season. Seed treatments provide a range of solutions against seed- and soil-borne diseases and insects, and work from the ground up to protect your investment. Bayer’s SeedGrowth team is a one-stop resource for everything you need to protect your seed.
“It’s our job to know a whole lot about one very specific part of farming,” says Allan Anderson, a specialist with the Bayer SeedGrowth team. “We help our customers find solutions to whatever aspect of treating seed they need help with,” continues Anderson. “That could be product education or providing information about how to best use their equipment. We are a specialized group who are always looking at ways to use our suite of products and technologies better.”
SeedGrowth was designed as a fully-integrated system to help growers achieve better crop establishment and healthier plants, with the ultimate goal of achieving higher yields. The SeedGrowth program focuses on Bayer’s four pillars of seed expertise: products, equipment, coatings and services. Anderson says that their team works to educate growers on how choosing the right product and applying them correctly can impact their entire season.
“We work with our customers year-round,” says Anderson. “It starts at harvest. Each crop has a story to tell and we want to make sure we are addressing all the variables before the next season.”
Mother Nature can bring a different set of growing conditions each year. Certain aspects are within a grower’s control, including the quality of seed being using, getting the seed tested, choosing the right seed treatments and being cognizant of how they are applied. Anderson says that proper application rates are something their team really tries to hammer home with their customers.
“I wish I could eliminate the word ‘bushel’ from the seed treatment world,” said Anderson. “Our customers look at the jug and see how many bushels of seed it will treat. But almost always, your seed will be heavier than a standard bushel weight. We want people to think about the quantity of seeds they are treating in order to get optimal coverage.”
Consider Volumes with Raxil PRO Shield
Anderson says that each spring there are a few hurdles that customers have to overcome when applying Raxil PRO Shield – and mostly that has to do with mixing the two ingredients – Raxil PRO and Stress Shield.
He cautions growers to consider their volumes when they dilute Raxil PRO Shield. “As soon as you dilute it one-to-one with water, you change the viscosity and it’s a dream to use,” he says. “But you have to remember that once it’s been diluted, you need to consider your application rate because the volume has changed.”
Trilex EverGol: an easy-to-use concentrate
Anderson says he wishes that all seed treatments came in a concentrated formula that is as simple to use as Trilex EverGol. The concentrated formulation makes for a more tailored product experience.
“Concentrates offer you much more application flexibility and you can easily adjust the rate,” says Anderson. “You can add as much or as little carrying agent as you need, and that agent doesn’t have to be water. On some pea crops, we’ve seen people mix the concentrate using a polymer or liquid nutrient, with the added benefit that they are not loading the peas so heavily.”
Each year Anderson says they challenge growers to give a concentrate a try, and they always get positive feedback. “When they see how evenly it covers, and how quickly it dries and it doesn’t re-wet, they love it,” he says. “We have been working to get the message out that a little goes a long way, and can go exactly where it is needed at the rate it is needed.”
EverGol Energy gets your soybean season started right
Soybeans have become one of the most important crops in Canada. Although they have been grown in this country for more than 100 years, improvements in seed varieties and agronomics have allowed the crop to expand west over the past 20 years, making it now the fourth most seeded crop in Canada.
The biggest impediment to the success of a soybean crop is disease, specifically seed rot and seedling disease. Having soybean seeds treated with EverGol Energy will protect your soybean crop from all major diseases, including rhizoctonia, fusarium, pythium and phomopsis. For increased protection, include Stress Shield or Allegiance® in the mix. The enhanced active ingredients are effective for pest and disease control.
To get your season off to the right start, contact one of the Bayer SeedGrowth team members. The team has more than 80 years of combined industry experience and a wide variety of agronomic backgrounds. For more information or support from a SeedGrowth member, visit the SeedGrowth page or call 1-888-283-6847.