Pod Stickers needed to curb further crop loss

Vigilance is required to ensure no further crop losses are incurred following the spring drought and a key tool in this quest is a pod sticker for podded crops including oilseed rape and beans, says Nick Myers of ProCam.

"A pod sealant such as Pod-Stik has proven itself in recent seasons to be an essential feature of preparing oilseed and pulse crops for harvest," he says.

"By effectively sealing the pods, seed loss is minimised, increasing final yields and reducing problems of volunteers in following crops. With the increase in crop values this year, particularly of oilseed rape, it is well worth hanging on to all the seed you have."

In fact with the relatively high potential crop values this harvest, relatively little extra yield is required to cover the cost of a Pod-Stik application, he explains.

Using an average guide price of around £9.40/ha for Pod-Stik and oilseed rape at £380/t, a 0.2 t/ha extra seed is valued at £76 and the farmer’s margin over input cost of £66.60. For 0.3 t/ha extra seed, the margin over input cost of £104.60," he calculates.

"The application can be made any time after full pod size is achieved and usually this is up to 3 weeks before harvest in oilseed rape. Generally, most Pod-Stik is applied with a pre-harvest desiccant, typically glyphosate. But it can also be applied in crops to be swathed."

Best practise would be to apply Pod-Stik at 1 l/ha at the lower end of the recommended water volumes of 100 to 300 litres/hectare.

"It doesn’t need to cover all pods as it works by bridging the upper pod suture line - where the pod starts to split due to maturity. By effectively ’stapling’ this together the upper suture is prevented from opening which prevents seed loss."

Pod-Stik can also be used in other podded crops, including beans, he says.

"In independent trials in the winter bean variety Wizard, the use of this pod sealant significantly reduced combining losses and increased the combinable yield from 4.6 t/ha in the untreated to 5.2 t/ha in the treated- an increase of 0.6t/ha."

In beans, Pod-Stik is applied when the majority of the pods are black. It can be applied alone or with a desiccant.

"As many pre-emergence herbicides in pulses performed poorly this year due to the dry conditions, pre-harvest desiccation may be more of a necessity this year," Nick Myers adds.