Successful sugar beet establishment relies on modern seed treatment

Good establishment is the key to profitable sugar beet production following the widespread changes in the way sugar beet is grown, according to leading sugar beet specialist Mike May of Broom’s Barn.

With a price of £22/tonne, and falling, growers must ensure maximum yield is obtained. This can only be done by ensuring that an even maximum stand of between 80-100,000 plants per hectare is established.

“Seed treatment will be vitally important in the coming year,” says Mike. “If the trend for mild winters continues then growers will need to be aware that virus yellows infection could be high next year, with large yield reductions if the crop is not protected. Whatever the season, we should not forget the threat from soil borne pests.

“The new regime will mean that a certain amount of quota trading will take place. Consequently, in some cases a smaller number of growers will have larger areas of sugar beet and there will be a closing up of the rotations. As a result of this, soil pests potentially will become more of a problem. This season, for example, the early slow growth of the crop made it very vulnerable to attack from pests. Also growers who are renting land may not have full details of the risks from soil pests and will need to use an insecticide seed treatment.

Continued

“By using a seed treated with insecticide, growers can set up the potential for the crop. Once the crop is sown, everything a grower does is done to protect it. If you don’t provide that protection, the yield keeps going down. In general, the more protection the crop gets from soil borne pests, the more likely growers are to achieve optimum plant populations. Clearly, not only will this increase yield but it will also mean the crop is more competitive against weeds. Crops also need to be protected from foliar pests such as flea beetles and leaf miners, another benefit of the insecticidal seed treatments.

“Finally and equally as important, the seed treatment must also protect the crop from aphids during the growing season thus reducing the risk of yield limiting virus yellows.

“Poncho Beta is a new seed insecticide treatment that not only protects the plant from within (in the way that Gaucho does), but it also includes beta cyfluthrin which goes into a vapour phase and penetrates the nooks and crannies in which some of the more mobile pests tend to lurk.”