Advancing Crop Protection

There are several exciting, new potato chemistry products in the marketplace.

With new technologies and management practices in the field promising higher yields and better agronomic performance, it’s never been more important to protect your valuable investment.

Starting Smart

Innovative potato seed piece treatments can help protect your potatoes, giving you a head start towards a more productive crop this spring.

In the marketplace for its second growing season, potato seed piece treatment Actara 240SC from Syngenta Crop Protection Canada is a systemic insecticide containing the active ingredient thiamethoxam, which provides long-lasting protection against sucking and chewing insects including aphids, Colorado potato beetles, and potato leaf hoppers. Actara 240SC can be used directly on the seed or applied in-furrow.

Growers benefit from increased efficiency as they are able to treat the seed piece at the same time they apply a fungicide. Most importantly, because you are treating the seed piece directly, the active ingredient is absorbed and moves systemically within the plant as it grows. This ensures protection right from the start and targets Colorado potato beetles when they are the most susceptible – in the spring.

“By applying Actara 240SC on the seed piece, growers experience longer lasting protection against some key potato pests,” says Wayne Bennett, Crop Manager-Horticulture for Syngenta Crop Protection Canada. “Our research and development results demonstrate that when applied to the seed piece, the product will provide 100 or more days of protection against Colorado potato beetles, aphids and potato leaf hoppers.”

Meanwhile, last year Bayer CropScience received registration for a new seed piece treatment to suppress damage caused by wireworms. The Group 4 liquid clothiandin product Titan was available for the 2009 season as the only seed-piece treatment registered for suppression of wireworms. “Protecting potatoes from the moment the seed piece hits the ground gives growers a head start towards a more productive crop,” said David Kikkert, Portfolio Manager of Horticulture with Bayer, in a press release.

In January, Titan was approved for control of above-ground pests such as Colorado potato beetles, potato leafhoppers, potato flea beetles, and aphids (potato, green peach, foxglove, and buckthorn), making it the broadest spectrum insect seed-piece treatment available to Canadian potato growers.

“Now Titan offers growers unmatched protection from all major insect pests with the convenience of a single seed-piece treatment,” says Kikkert. “Titan is the only seed-piece treatment that controls above-ground pests and reduces the damage caused by wireworm – a growing pest in potato fields across Canada.”