The cereal claim was developed utilising a combination of trial data from Nufarm, the Foundation for Arable Research and an MPI SFF project.
 

“Growers have used suSCon Green to protect cereal crops in the past and with pending regulatory changes to use of OP insecticides we felt it was important to ensure this option continued to be available to them,” says Nufarm development specialist Cynthia Christie.
 

Recommended rates of 10 – 15 kg per ha drilled with seed provide protection for the entire life of the cereal crop from autumn grass grub larvae, winter and spring feeding larvae and also second year larvae, making this a particularly useful option for autumn sown cereals.
 

Alternatives such as seed treatment or Diazinon 20G granules only protect plants during early establishment, after which crops

are completely vulnerable to attack.
 

“Some farmers spray autumn sown crops with Diazinon several times through winter and spring but the new label claim for

suSCon Green means they now have an easy to use alternative option which negates the need for continual monitoring and subsequent spray applications.”
 

Trial results report good yield increases when suSCon Green is used either with or without seed treatment insecticides, particularly in high yield potential crops. Growers must continue to use seed treatment insecticide for aphid control, she says.
 

“One question growers will probably ask is: Will the benefits of suSCon Green granules extend to the following crop after an annual cereal? While the granules are still present in the soil, and active, they generally do not provide any benefit to the subsequent crop, because these crop seeds and granules are not in the same place in the soil especially if the paddock is cultivated.”
 

Christie says the new claim for manuka beetle control meantime means suSCon Green is now the only insecticide labelled for this pest, which has become a major problem in new land development on the West Coast. Dairy earthworks such as humping and hollowing or soil flipping creates an ideal environment for the beetle, which devastates new pasture, to the point where paddocks look like they’ve been cultivated but in fact the ‘cultivation’ is caused by birds feeding on the grubs present.
 

“Landcorp, AgResearch and farmers collaborated on an SFF project investigating control options for manuka beetle with Nufarm also contributing to the project with research on suSCon Green as protection for new pasture, and it works very well.”
 

Due to high rainfall and soils with little organic matter, however, suSCon granules do not last as long on the West Coast as in other parts of NZ and the claim is for up to two years control.
 

First developed to protect new pastures, suSCon Green granules contain a small amount of controlled release insecticide which prevents grass grub feeding on the roots of cereal plants throughout their life.
 

Affected life cycle stages include autumn larvae, winter and spring feeding larvae and second year larvae
 

For more detail contact your Nufarm territory manager.