BASF seed treatments provide early protection for winter wheat

Date:10-03-2022

Producers will be in the fields seeding winter wheat soon, according to Tracy Hillenbrand, BASF technical service representative.
″I’ve talked with a couple retailers and Montana growers are getting ready to start seeding. In a couple of those areas, growers are trying to wait for rainfall to try to get a little more moisture in the soil,″ Hillenbrand said.

In North Dakota, the typical timeline for planting winter wheat is from mid-September through October, and many growers will use a fungicide or insecticide seed treatment to help ward off diseases and insects.

″When preparing to plant winter wheat, it’s important for producers to consider using a seed treatment to help protect against disease or pests this coming season,″ she said.

Hillenbrand points out seed treatments are often under-used and farmers are often uninformed about how seed treatments can actually help in the field early in the season.

″With winter wheat planting, we are going to have a different spectrum of diseases and insects that are going to be affecting the crop,″ she said.

The seed treatment goes directly on the seed and it can be done at the farm or at the retailer, according to Hillenbrand.
An insecticide seed treatment can help with early insects, such as wireworms.

In Montana and central to western regions of North Dakota, wireworms are an annual problem, and those pests cause the most damage when the wheat crop is first being established.

″The farther west the farm is located, the greater the chance for wireworm pressure. There are pockets where wireworms are able to cause lots of damage. So, right now is a great time to get out and scout for wireworms,″ she said.

BASF is offering Teraxxa insecticide seed treatment, which has a novel mode of action and only a small amount will kill wireworms.

″It offers total wireworm elimination and is a new weapon to fight wireworms,″ Hillenbrand said.

Wireworm control is not just for wheat when farmers are trying to reduce wireworm populations. Wireworms can move into a farm’s corn and sunflowers if they are not taken care of.

The seed treatment goes directly on the seed and it can be done at the farm or at the retailer, according to Hillenbrand.
An insecticide seed treatment can help with early insects, such as wireworms.

In Montana and central to western regions of North Dakota, wireworms are an annual problem, and those pests cause the most damage when the wheat crop is first being established.

″The farther west the farm is located, the greater the chance for wireworm pressure. There are pockets where wireworms are able to cause lots of damage. So, right now is a great time to get out and scout for wireworms,″ she said.

BASF is offering Teraxxa insecticide seed treatment, which has a novel mode of action and only a small amount will kill wireworms.

″It offers total wireworm elimination and is a new weapon to fight wireworms,″ Hillenbrand said.

Wireworm control is not just for wheat when farmers are trying to reduce wireworm populations. Wireworms can move into a farm’s corn and sunflowers if they are not taken care of.

″By reducing the populations in your winter wheat stand, we’re also able to see some rotational benefits for your ground overall – so just overall soil health improvement,″ she said.

When producers are out scouting for wireworms, wireworm damage can look like a skip in the field.

″The worm feeding and stand loss can be a common misconception for something like a planter skip,″ she said.

One thing producers can try is a bait trap to see if the damage is caused by wireworms. In the trap, if a farmer finds anything beyond one wireworm, that is enough to cause damage.

″The average adult wireworm can lay 50 eggs. So, 50 new wireworms will be around next year,″ Hillenbrand said. ″Rather than reducing your population, you’re just delaying that population because you can have multiple cycles of wireworms.″

Wireworms can live in the soil for 5-7 years, so eliminating them at the start with Teraxxa can give wheat the best start.

″The main way we lose yield to wireworms is stand loss. A heavy infestation can cause 50 percent stand loss, and wireworms will feed off growing root tips throughout the season,″ she added.

Grasshopper outbreaks have been a common occurrence in many parts of Montana and North Dakota this year.

Poncho XC is an insecticide seed treatment that is labeled for cereal crops and will be a control for insect pests, such as grasshoppers and Hessian fly.

″With how dry it is across the area, grasshopper pressure is going to be very high this year,″ she said. ″An insecticide seed treatment for grasshopper control is a great idea to help improve your stand and get to those higher yield levels.″

A fungicide seed treatment to protect the crop against diseases in that early timeframe is a main consideration when planting winter wheat.

″It’s important to have a complete package offering for your disease spectrum. A product offering like Stamina F4 offers you all-in-one complete coverage over many seed and soilborne diseases,″ Hillenbrand said.

The ″4″ in Stamina F4 means four modes action offering complete control of the following diseases: Fusarium root rot, seed rot, seedling blight, Rhizoctonia root rot, common root rot, dry seed decay, covered smut, flag smut, false and true loose smut, and covered smut.

″With four modes of action, it provides the best disease protection possible for those diseases,″ Hillenbrand said.

It also offers plant health benefits such as plant emergence and good plant stands, too.

Teraxxa F4 is a combination insecticide plus Stamina F4 fungicide seed treatment. It adds the active ingredients F500, metalaxyl, tebuconazole and xemium, which protects against a host of cereal seedling diseases.

″Teraxxa F4 is a combination insecticide and fungicide seed treatment that is a complete control over early insects and soil and seed diseases during early crop development stages. Besides its long-lasting protection, it also promotes healthier roots, vigor, and yield,″ Hillenbrand concluded.