B2—Lancaster Farming, Saturday, May 16,1981
Farm Business
Rick Thompson, of Shenk’s Farm Service, 501 E. Woods
Dr., Lititz, has assumed the responsibility of sales of Bou
matic milking equipment and Dari-Kool bulk tanks, along with
his duties as service technician.
Atlantic Breeders names
Beat to marketing post
LANCASTER Atlantic
Breeders Cooperative has ap
pointed Larry Beat to the new
position of Domestic Marketing
Manager to work with the direct
breeders sales program, domestic
distributors and representatives,
and domestic and international
tours.
Beat is respnosible for
developing a program of com
munications, information and
educational and promotional
meetings of special interest and
value to direct-herd breeders. He
will work closely with the
organizations and sales
representatives throughout the
United States who handle Atlantic
semen. Beat will also serve as a
host for groups of visitors who
come to see the Atlantic sires and
their daughters in members’
herds.
Larry Beat comes to Atlantic
from Kansas, where he was mainly
in charge of the dairy program for
the KABSU stud since 1970. His
responsibilities included the
Holstein young sire program,
dairy sement sales and marketing,
AI trailing schools, and public
relations. He has also been active
in National Association of Animal
Breeders activities and the Kansas
Irrigation seminar held
WESTPORT, a. Farmers in
five mid-Atlantic states were
shown how to save time and energy
by applying Vapam soil fumigant
through irrigation systems at a
recent fanner seminar sponsored
byStauffer Chemical Company.
Though Vapam has been
registered for many years to
control pests in a variety of crops,
the practice of applying the
product through irrigation systems
is gaining momentum in
Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey,
Pennsylvania and Virginia.
By injecting Vapam into their
irrigation systems rather than
applying it separately, farmers
can save valuable tune and make
News
Holstein show.
Beat is a native Kansan and
grew up on a dairy farm. He
graduated from Kansas State
University in 1966 with a bachelor
of science degree in ag education,
then taught vo-ag for four years.
He also did some graduate study
and worked as an AI technician.
His wife and three children plan to
relocate in the Lancaster area this
summer.
more efficient use of their
equipment. The technique also
gives better control of pests than
other application methods because
.it allows a more uniform ap
plication and complete soil
saturation.
Vapam controls weeds, soil
borne fungi, nematodes and other
soil insects. It can be used on all
types of soil, regardless of crop.
Farmers in mid-Atlantic states use
the soil fumigant primarily for
potatoes and vegetable crops, such
as lettuce and tomatoes. It also is
used on ground being prepared for
tobacco, sweet potatoes and
waferinelons.
Larry Beat
Herbicide-coated seed
research moves ahead
MINNEAPOLIS, Mn. - The
cost-cutting dream of planting the
necessary crop-insuring chemicals
attached right to the seed itself is
taking a giant stride closer to
reality in research laboratories in
Washington State and Minnesota.
Researchers are saying that it is
now possible to coat alfalfa seeds
with herbicide, plant with con
ventional planting equipment, and
create a zone of weed suppression
in the intimate vicinity of the seed,
helping insure a successful stand
and greater yield.
Further, says Jean Dawson of
the USDA’s station at Prosser,
Washington, who originally con
ceived the idea of coating alfalfa
seed with herbicide, “There is a
great potential in coating seeds in
general with chemicals to suppress
weeds close by. We’ve shown
clearly that the idea works with
alfalfa, and we’re now ex
perimenting witli edible beans, as
well as with sunflower, soybeans,
flax, and other seeds in a
preliminary way.”
Doing some of the develop
mental research on coating alfalfa
with herbicide is Northrup King
Co., Minneapolis, Mn. Researcher
m-charge Fred Porter also is
highly optimistic about the idea of
herbicide-coated seed in general;
“The sky may be the limit,” he
says. “Someday we may be able to
successfully coat corn and soybean
seed to better control yield-robbing
weeds.”
While developmental work is
fairly well advanced on herbicide
coated alfalfa, NK marketers say
they’re still studying commercial
application and market potential.
According to Dawson, herbicide
coating of seed is being studied
closely by the chemical industry,
which he feels verifies the
potential of the idea in that sub
stantial dollar investments m
research are being made.
Porter, developer of several
•seed-coating patents held by-his
company, says, “If we use her
bicides that are volatile and,
therefore, permeate through the
soil and kill weed seedlings, it
seems to me we might be' able
eventually to eliminate all other
applications of herbicide.- We can
do that now with alfalfa if it’s
coated with enough herbicide and
seeds are placed in the soil within
an inch or two of each other.
“With com or soybeans, using
the right kinds of herbicides,
we might eliminate weed seedlings
within two or four inches of the
crop, then cultivate close and get
the rest of the weeds.”
“The beauty of the idea is that
we could eliminate the expense of
all that handling, applying, and
incorporation of herbicides. The
farmer wouldn’t spend his time
going to town to buy the chemical,
haul it home, fill his spray tanks,
spray, and incorporate. These
costly steps may become un
necessary!”
The researcher says there may
be ways to develop systems to
attach today’s popular com and
soybean herbicides to those seeds,
but in general a herbicide has to be
volatile to work as a coating. The
herbicide being used in alfalfa
coating research is Eptam. Once
the seed is in the ground, the
Eptam volatizes and permeates
surrounding soil.
The idea also could have merit in
controlling crop insects, continues
Porter. Coating com and other
seeds with fungicides already is
common.
Alfalfa has a surprising
resistance to Eptam, while the
chemical works particularly well
in killing grassy weed seedlings. In
laboratory trials conducted by NK
in Minnesota, involving four
replications, Eptam-coated alfalfa
seeds, ryegrass seeds and
Research conducted by Jean Dawson, of the USDA, at
Prosser* Wash., shows how grass was eliminated near the
row of alfalfa which was grown from seed coated with Eptam
herbicide.
*5 ~
&-V
<:%
Alfalfa seed on the right has not
left has been coated with 18.2
dredweight of seed in a calcium
causes the white color.
broadleaf weed seeds were planted
together in 10x10 inch pans. The
alfalfa seeds sprouted and grew
successfully while the ryegrass
seeds germinated but were
stunted, and by the end of the test
many were dead. The broadleaf
weeds were stunted but not killed.
Further research indicated that
Eptam-coated alfalfa seeds retain
germinability over a period of at
least one year.
A .number of benefits become
obvious for alfalfa growers from
using herbicide-coated seed. Clear
stand seeding with no nurse crop is
made more possible, providing
good hay yields in the establish
ment year, followed by improved
forage quality in subsequent years.
Add to that the possibility of more
years of harvest before tearing up
the field.
Simplified herbicide handling,
applying, and incorporation could
alone save the farmer as much as
|6' an acre, speculates Porter
“One or two tripsover the field are
eliminated, giving the savings,” he
says.-
The researcher explains that in'
establishing alfalfa, the major
weed problem is unwanted
grasses. If a broadleaf weed in
festation exists, the' fanner should
take care of it as he prepares the
land.^
With a May 27 planting date last
year, a field triad using normal and
herbicide-coated alfalfa seed was
conducted by Northrup King.
Although the late planting date,
drought, high temperatures, and a
leafhopper infestation sharply
reduced yields, the pure stands of
alfalfa, in the establishment year,
yielded 1.82 tons/acre (two cut
tings) where normal seed was
used, compared to 1.90 tons/acre
where Eptam-coated seed was
used (two-pound/acre -rate). Hay
yield at the four-pound/acre rate
was 1.65 tons.
According to Porter, the yields
are not statistically different no
advantage or disadvantage is
been coated. Seed on the
pounds Eptam per hun
carbonate carrier, which
proven for the establishment year.
The field trial does prove,
however, that herbicide-coated
seed is a viable concept. Also, “in
subsequent years of harvesting,
yield in the coated-seed stand
should be better, due to the sup
pression of grassy weeds at the
outset,” says Porter. “And there
may be a real difference in the
quality of the forage you get by
eliminating low-feed-value weeds.
Total tonnage doesn’t teD the
whole story.”
“About 110 seeds per square foot
of ground is an ideal planting rate
in view of seed and seedling
mortality,” says Porter. “An
equidistant broadcast of that seed,
almost one seed per square inch,
when it is coated with Eptam,
would result in total control of
grassy weeds in the field," says
Porter.
Dawson agrees. Volatization of
the herbicide at this seed rate
would be' sufficient to control
weeds between the seeds
While production, distribution,a
and storage questions regarding
herbicide-coated alfalfa seed yet
need answers, Northrup King Co.
will continue exploring feasibility
of commercial use. .