I
| • Super slurper swells out all over
J=
PEORIA, lU. - Super
,5 slurper, the starch-based
4: absorbent that swells as it
jells hundreds of tunes its
weight of water, is “swelling
, f out all over.”
} Reports received at the
„|U.S. Department of
r T Agriculture laboratory from
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industrial and research
resources indicate that
production will have to
continue increasing to keep
pace with use and company
expectations.
Planting uses alone could
eventually account for more
than 100 million pounds a
1-Year Warranty
year of an absorbent that
jells hundreds of tunes its
weight of water, estimates
William M. Doane, Northern
Center research leader.
“Earlier reports pointed
toward absorbent soft goods
as the most promising ap
plication,” says Doane, “but
planting uses emerged as the
leader this year.”
Research sources report
com, soybean and rrulo
sorghum yield increases
ranging from 10 to 50 percent
in seed coating field tests.
Several water-jelling
absorbents, made by
chemically grafting man
made acrylic compounds to
cereal gram starch and
hydrolyzing the com
binations, were introduced
as super simpers, 1973-77, by
Doane, M. Ollidene Weaver,
George F. Fanta, Edward B.
Bagley and other scientists
at the Northern Center of
Agricultural Research, a
division of the U.S.
Department of Agriculture,
located in Illinois.
The super simpers, ab
sorbing 300 to 5,300 tunes
their own weight of pure
water in the laboratory,
established new standards of
absorbency and a name for
the standards, the products
and the industry. Henkel
Corporation, formerly
General Mills Chemicals,
Minneapolis, is taking steps
to trademark “Super
Simper.”
Three companies produce
the starch-based absorbent.
Henkel licensed the first
USDA patent application in
August 1974; Super Ab
sorbent Company, Lum
berton, N.C., in March 1976,
and Spenco Medical Cor
poration, Waco, Tex., in
October 1977. A total of 45
companies or individuals
have licenses on three USDA
patents now.
“We have extensive seed
coating technology,” said
Gilmore of Henkel Cor
poration. “It permits, ad
ding thin coatings, which do
not change seed size sub
stantially, or pelletizing,
which does increase seed
dimensions significantly.
“We can coat seeds as
small as guayule, as large as
castor beans and as frail as
peanuts.” Guayule is a
rubber-producing desert
plant under development as
a Umted States rubber crop.
Gilmore says seed coating
research is continuing on
vegetables and other crops
including com, sorghum,
soybeans, sugar beets, guar
and jojoba, a desert shrub
that produces a liquid wax
replacement for sperm
whale oil.
Super simper coatings
“form a gel capsule of water
around each seed,” Gilmore
says. “The amount of
coating is extremely im
portant m providing water
uptake without drowning the
seed.
“The coatings lead to an
increase m stand from lower
seeding rates, better
emergence, more uniform
and vigorous stands and
higher yields.” He says the
coatings help especially in
dry land planting, under
irrigation, on low quality
seed, and in double cropping,
for example, soybeans m
wheat.
He says other materials
can be added to super
simper seed coverings to
protect against disease and
insects, break down seed
coat impermeability, absorb
toxic residues of herbicides
and stimulate root growth or
the germinating embryo. A
test covering on cottonseed,
for example, contained"
fungicide and embryo
stimulant.
Slurper-coated corn
“planted under moderate to
severe moisture stress”
produced 4,100 more plants
an acre than “naked seed”
produced and yielded 13
more bushels than the 123-
bushel control yield in field
tests by Dale E. Behmer of
American Ag & Bio-Tech.
Behmer says coated
soybeans broadcast in
chemically killed sod
“showed 7 to 28 percent
stand improvements” over
uncoated beans in Arkansas
tests. Highest yield increase
from coating soybeans was
18 bushels an acre.
Coating milo seed in
creased yields in a range of
17 to 49 percent on
chemically killed sod in
Behmer’s Arkansas tests.
At least one step beyond
planting coating seed is the
possibility of sowing
pregerminated seed in a
super slurper gel. “The gel
protects the exposed root
from damage and facilitates
planting,” says Alan Taylor,
Lancaster Farming, Saturday, March 29,1980—€43
research assistant to James
Motes in the Oklahoma State
Umversity Department of
Horticulture.
Taylor says the gel
seeding technique offers
“earlier emergence, better
and more uniform stand and
greater ability to withstand
environmental stresses. It
can be used on flower, tree
or crop as well as on
vegetable seed.”
He says that 20 acres were
planted with pregerminated
vegetable seed this year.
“Greenhouse growers will
benefit in the future by
sowing pregerminated
seed,” Taylor says.
“The significance to
consumers may not be seen
for several years. The
question is will the technique
be accepted by the vegetable
industry and to what ex
tent.”
Florida nurserymen and
other growers use super
simper to start and grow
high value vegetables,
foliage plants and or
namentals in trays, beds,
pots and sandy fields where
water is vital and expensive.
James J. Quinn, Industrial
Services International vice
president for agriculture,
says the absorbent cuts
water use 90 percent on
bedding plants and seed
trays, cuts misting time on
foliage plants and shortens
the usual 4 to 5 weeks bet
ween potting plants and
marketing them by about a
week because the plants
develop faster m simper
treated sod.
Tips on catching
the hig one
LANCASTER - A lively
minnow will attract the at
tention of a passing fish far
better than a lethargic one.
To make your minnows
livelier, clip off the tad fins.
The “clipped” minnows
have to work much harder to
maintain equilibrium, thus
are more active.
Some fish smell so fishy
when you clean them that
the odor lingers on your
hands and m the sink. You
can neutralize the odor by
washing hands and sink in a * or “® s t hook-setting e£-
mixture of tomato and lemon ficiency reach your rod tip
■j mces toward the fish as far as
Covers for your reel and possible, reel all the slack
rod handle can be purchas- ou t of your line, then give it
ed, or you can make your to him.
ATTENTION
FARMERS...
FREE
ESTIMATES
ON RODENT
CONTROL
RODENTS carry diseases which
can endanger the health of your
flocks. Your business is raising
the flocks. Ours is protecting
them.
Since 1928
Pest control is too important
to trust to anyone else
Quinn says farmers,
greenhouse operators,
nurserymen, condominum
owners, landscapers and
bare-root shippers use the
absorbent in areas ranging
from mini trays to acreages
for all kinds of plant
growing. “The only ex
ception is hydroponics,” he
says.
Musser Forests, Indiana,
Pa., uses and markets super
simper as Water Gel for root
coatings. “We think this is
just the product we have
been looking for to reduce
losses in bare root trees,”
reports Fred Musser, Jr.
He estimates that Musser
Forests coated the roots of
2.5 million trees for shipping
in 1979. Large orders are not
root coated now because
water held on the roots adds
to the transportation cost.
“We feel that super
simper will retain moisture
around roots of plants during
shipment better than other
materials we have tried,”
Musser says. “It also ap
pears to increase the sur
vival rate of bare root plants
for field planting in hot, dry
weather.”
This year’s experience
gave an example, Musser
says. The nursery completed
its own plantings late - in the
hot, dry weather of June. By
the middle of September, 85
to 90 percent of the root
coated seedlings were
growing. Survival rate of
untreated seedlings was
zero.
own at far less expense. Just
slip a plastic bag over reel
and rod handle, and secure
the opening with a wire bag
sealer.
It doesn’t count much to
set a hook with all your
might if you dont’ first reel
all the slack out of your line.
For each foot of slack you
need one foot of movement in
your rod tip.
1278 Loop Rd.
Lancaster, Pa. 17604
717-397-3721