warksfarmer
Member
Yep
My Bridgeway Biostimulant trial
- Thread starter Clive
- Start date
Yep
- Location
- S. Staffs
....only if there is a significant improvement, if not the resulting negative publicity could be very embarrassing!
Yes, you'd certainly need to be confident your product actually worked & was applied correctly before persuading an "opinion leader" to give it a go in the eye of social media.
A lot of what you say can be said about small plot replicated trials - ie do loads and disgaurd all the negatives - this happens and I don’t trust them hence I would rather do my own trials on my own farm !
When a trial is blogged live (like this I’ve ) you can’t hide the result if it’s a negative ! This is the big difference ! Would you risk that on such a large platform as TFF if you were a manufacturer of a product that was snake oil ?
A lot of tramline trials are not done properly - however they can be as good if not better than small plot replicated trials if done correctly- I’m using large plot sizes (4ha) and have 6 fields it’s being done in fields all selected for lack of variability
when we ran the fungicide trials a few years ago ADAS used spot yield and weighbridge data along with previous field yield data to prove statistically significant result - Dr Daniel Kilndred is an interesting man to talk to about this, he will tell you that tramline trials can be the best trials
But anyway like all the r&d we do the data is really for me so I can decide if I want to use a particular product in the future again or not. I will make my mind up based on what we see.and measure What anyone else makes of my data is up to them
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oil barron
Member
- Location
- Aberdeenshire
[QUOTE
Put simply if you can cut costs by say 50% but your gross output drops by say 20% your bottom line will still be 30% better off
?[/QUOTE]
That is only true if your costs are exactly equal to your output receipts. Ie you are starting from a point of zero net profit.
Put simply if you can cut costs by say 50% but your gross output drops by say 20% your bottom line will still be 30% better off
?[/QUOTE]
That is only true if your costs are exactly equal to your output receipts. Ie you are starting from a point of zero net profit.
oil barron
Member
- Location
- Aberdeenshire
The sub has nothing to do with this equation. It is a separate operation. You are looking purely at the profit and loss of growing the crop.
Have a look at my article in direct driller magazine (issue 5) - I really don’t want to just rewrite it here
I maintain most farms are stuck on a gross output treadmill and are neglecting something far more important ....... profit
So update on the trial
T0 and T1 timing have been completed in timely fashion on the plots that were getting them T2 application will take place next week
Yesterday Stuart and Sarah from Interagro came out and we spent some time collecting tissue samples from some of the plots. There is no visual difference that I can see so far but its fair to say the plots have been through some stress over the very dry period we had
Samples were taken from treated and untreated areas of the fields and Brix compared (a number of randomly picked whole leaves (leaf 2) blended with a coffee grinder and then tested with a electronic meter)
We made a quick video ................ ( because we like playing with drones and iphone gimbles really !) and to prove I am certainly not cut out for a job on country-file anytime soon !!
Brix test results is interesting and frankly quick surprising to the skeptic in me, it does seem to show consistent Brix increase in line with the qty applied. The Bank field is the lightest soil in this trial (sand over gravel) that would have been the most stressed by the doughty conditions and that's where we can see by far the biggest increase in Brix level...................... that has seriously got my attention now !
Tissue samples have now gone of for full analysis - I will post them when we have them back from the lab
Same tests will be done again here between t2 and t3 applications and then again after t3 hopefully ................... the weighbridge at harvest will however be the ultimate judge of this !
T0 and T1 timing have been completed in timely fashion on the plots that were getting them T2 application will take place next week
Yesterday Stuart and Sarah from Interagro came out and we spent some time collecting tissue samples from some of the plots. There is no visual difference that I can see so far but its fair to say the plots have been through some stress over the very dry period we had
Samples were taken from treated and untreated areas of the fields and Brix compared (a number of randomly picked whole leaves (leaf 2) blended with a coffee grinder and then tested with a electronic meter)
We made a quick video ................ ( because we like playing with drones and iphone gimbles really !) and to prove I am certainly not cut out for a job on country-file anytime soon !!
Brix test results is interesting and frankly quick surprising to the skeptic in me, it does seem to show consistent Brix increase in line with the qty applied. The Bank field is the lightest soil in this trial (sand over gravel) that would have been the most stressed by the doughty conditions and that's where we can see by far the biggest increase in Brix level...................... that has seriously got my attention now !
Tissue samples have now gone of for full analysis - I will post them when we have them back from the lab
Same tests will be done again here between t2 and t3 applications and then again after t3 hopefully ................... the weighbridge at harvest will however be the ultimate judge of this !
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Looks encouraging.
However, if you say that Bank field has been potentially been the most stressed, why does the untreated show some of the highest brix values? Although, this and any other conclusions have to be taken with caution, as there is only 2x samples per field treatment, and there was a highest variability in Bank field.
However, if you say that Bank field has been potentially been the most stressed, why does the untreated show some of the highest brix values? Although, this and any other conclusions have to be taken with caution, as there is only 2x samples per field treatment, and there was a highest variability in Bank field.
I really can't say for sure but the Bank field is a different variety, drilling date an geographically 20 miles difference in location which I guess could be the reason ? I wanted to have a plot on that field as it is our lightest soil and the most likely to suffer stress. The other fields in the trial are all same variety and same locations etc and on "stronger" soil type
I don't think comparisons should be made between the plots as every field is different. The best comparison is simply treated vs untreated within each field I think
I agree the result needs to be looked at with caution, its early days in this trail and higher Brix may well not even mean more yield really ! But frankly I'm quite suprised there is any difference at this stage at all
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Yes, yield will be more important; and if there is any yield increase, does the extra revenue outweigh the cost of the product and application (ie. does it increase profit)?
Having to do an extra pass each time certainly isn't ideal in terms of cost and time, but maybe if this years' testing shows a benefit, next year it can be tested in tank-mix.
Having to do an extra pass each time certainly isn't ideal in terms of cost and time, but maybe if this years' testing shows a benefit, next year it can be tested in tank-mix.
The only reason I’ve made applications in separate passes to the fungicide is purely practical / logistics with just 6x4 ha plots to cover
I’m told it tank mixes fine so if I was doing my entire wheat area I would be including it at fungicide timing
These initial results are interesting but it’s too soon to draw any real conclusions yet though ....... show me the MOIC first !!!!
- Location
- Bedfordshire
I suppose the next question is, will it have the same effect (if any) on other crops?
On the interagro website there are some trials on other crops I think - potatoes and veg I think
I would quite like to try some on my beans
- Location
- South Notts
What does BRIX stand for?
It’s a simple measure of sugar in plant tissues
Subjectively it's used as an indication of plant health
- Location
- Bedfordshire
Doing some tramline trials myself,
1lt/ha @ T0followed by 1lt/ha@ T1 will get another @ T2
1lt/ha @ T1 and will go again @T2
2lts/ha @ T1
All the above in WW1 Lili
Done two tramlines in winter beans at 1lt/ha
No visible difference in any of the above yet but will send leaf samples for testing soon
1lt/ha @ T0followed by 1lt/ha@ T1 will get another @ T2
1lt/ha @ T1 and will go again @T2
2lts/ha @ T1
All the above in WW1 Lili
Done two tramlines in winter beans at 1lt/ha
No visible difference in any of the above yet but will send leaf samples for testing soon
Chae1
Member
- Location
- Aberdeenshire
Yield and crop quality will be best indicator in my opinion.