Seed dressings & No Till

[Richard III]

No Till must be getting popular, it seems Syngenta marketing machine is trying to convince us that we need their latest seed dressings due to higher pathogen levels in No Till.

http://european-seed.com/new-technologies-ensure-strong-healthy-plants/

So it seems strange that No Tiller's often successfully stop using seed dressings.......................

 

[The_Swede]

Only surprised it's taken them this long...

 

[mikep]

Only ever use tested seed without dressing as bunt is still about unbelievably. It can build up quickly and you don't know until harvest and the infected area is a right off.
I know as I 'rinse' organic seed that is infected with this and other seed bourne diseases. It makes me laugh when I hear the tw ats calling for chemical free farming when they are really parasitising us.

 

[Louis Mc]

Should have kept this for April 1st

 

[Simon C]

"But these practices leave the soil undisturbed with a layer of organic matter on top, and this leads to an increase of plant pathogens in the soil"

Very strange statement to make, where ever did they get that idea from.

 

[mikep]

"But these practices leave the soil undisturbed with a layer of organic matter on top, and this leads to an increase of plant pathogens in the soil"

Very strange statement to make, where ever did they get that idea from.

I think now days it's called 'fake news' ie one fact that is supposed to prove another. I'm sure you get more pathogens per se by leaving decaying matter on soil but do they matter? Phoma is not going to bother wheat nor septoria rape. If you run two wheats there is a risk but with a good rotation it should not be a problem with tested seed.

 

[Richard III]

It appears they have a new product to sell, so I guess there will be a lot more of this sort of stuff coming out this summer.

https://www.syngenta.co.uk/news/pro...d-treatment-vibrance-duo-receives-uk-approval

 

[Simon C]

It appears they have a new product to sell, so I guess there will be a lot more of this sort of stuff coming out this summer.

https://www.syngenta.co.uk/news/pro...d-treatment-vibrance-duo-receives-uk-approval

Yes, and it doesn't help them when farmers are now getting their information from independent places like this forum rather than chemical company sponsored magazines. The idea that you may be better off not using a dressing is going to spread like wildfire.

 

[britt]

"But these practices leave the soil undisturbed with a layer of organic matter on top, and this leads to an increase of plant pathogens in the soil"

Very strange statement to make, where ever did they get that idea from.

Seed dressings are like insurance. You hope that you will never need its help, but are you brave enough to do without ?
It's all a matter of assessing risk, and balancing against cost of a problem.
They use such statements to scare you into taking out the insurance.
So, who does routinely sow wheat without a dressing ?
You can have seed tested for fusarium, what else ?

 

[martian]

So, who does routinely sow wheat without a dressing ?
You can have seed tested for fusarium, what else ?

We didn't sow a grain of dressed wheat seed last autumn or the one before, all seed tested by NIAB for bunt and Microdochium nivale and germination. We pay BSBP payments by the hectare which works out much cheaper and fairer, the seed is so cheap you don't mind putting it on a bit thicker in case a slug or rook eats the odd one. If anything goes wrong you can spray it off in the spring and try something else. That's what I call insurance.

 

[Louis Mc]

Seed dressings are like insurance. You hope that you will never need its help, but are you brave enough to do without ?
It's all a matter of assessing risk, and balancing against cost of a problem.
They use such statements to scare you into taking out the insurance.
So, who does routinely sow wheat without a dressing ?
You can have seed tested for fusarium, what else ?

We routinely do it. Yolo and all that

 

[Richard III]

Generally buy one ton of treated seed each year, ie the new variety I try out. The combine produces a clean enough sample to fill the drill off the heap. Do the same with wheat, OSR and beans.

 

[Simon C]

Generally buy one ton of treated seed each year, ie the new variety I try out. The combine produces a clean enough sample to fill the drill off the heap. Do the same with wheat, OSR and beans.

You could always buy your 1 ton of seed untreated and be done with dressings altogether.

 

[SilliamWhale]

You could always buy your 1 ton of seed untreated and be done with dressings altogether.

Do you ever have concerns about Microdochium Nivale?

 

[Richard III]

You could always buy your 1 ton of seed untreated and be done with dressings altogether.

I could, but from experience single purpose dressed seed is most likely to turn up on time and I want to be drilled up nice and early.

 

[Clive]

Seed dressings are like insurance. You hope that you will never need its help, but are you brave enough to do without ?
It's all a matter of assessing risk, and balancing against cost of a problem.
They use such statements to scare you into taking out the insurance.
So, who does routinely sow wheat without a dressing ?
You can have seed tested for fusarium, what else ?

Rare for us to dress seed

Covering a seed that you want to immediately start working with soil fungi makes little sense to me

 

[Kevtherev]

Same pathogens in the soil whether it's ploughed or DD

 

[Will Blackburn]

Same pathogens in the soil whether it's ploughed or DD

If only that were true!

 

[Kevtherev]

If only that were true!

Maybe so but I was thinking most soil Bourne pests and diseases are always there??

 

[yellow belly]

in the 1970s father burnt stubble and ploughed to eliminate straw on the surface for second wheat
research had shown that 1 piece of straw would contaminate second wheat with eyespot per 50 sqm

with a proper rotation these problem eliminated we were mixed farmers then moving more to longer runs of wheat one herbicide did all autumn weeds very early drilling and high yields and high crop prices every sqm planted hedge 1 m wide and large number of passes

now we are much more cost conscious as tractor fuel and labour are much bigger relative to grain prices
dressed seed every year but mercury seed dressing was very low cost it was easy to justify

now every cost has to be justified as it was then but fuel at 20 times the 70s price wheat less than double

since 2000 never seed a problem with undressed seed saved a lot of money
now looking at all costs
when wheat was £200 higher costing yield increasing products could be justified like they were in the 1980s
new products were developed but
by the 2000s £60 a tonne the risk reward was not high as it was at £100 last year
by 2020 who knows what will be needed or profitable