As demonstrated in this Georgia field trial, Velum® Total promotes strong stands and early-season root and plant growth by protecting young plants and roots from nematodes and insects and suppressing disease. Photo courtesy- Bayer, 2017
Definitive results from nematode management programs can be elusive.
The variability of nematode pressure from field to field – even from one spot in a field to another spot in a field – often creates inconsistent results from nematode management programs.
That hasn’t happened with Velum Total and Propulse® in the on-farm trials Georgia crop consultant Paul Wigley has evaluated. Wigley has seen a positive return on investment with this combination in every trial – including the field where the scales broke.
That trial was in one of Matt Bryan’s Baker County, Georgia, fields. Bryan, a regular fixture in the yield-based Georgia Peanut Achievement Club, first saw the impact of Velum Total and Propulse in 2016.
“Just the Velum Total over the Thimet was a 300-pound increase,” Bryan says. “The Velum Total with the Propulse added about another 700 pounds. I was pretty impressed. That’s why I put Propulse on all mine” in 2017.
Wigley, a retired University of Georgia Extension agent who now consults for 16 peanut farmers in Southwest Georgia, continues to run on-farm trials. The results from trials with Velum Total and Propulse show “astounding” results, he says.
“We’ve never done a trial using Velum Total and Propulse that we did not easily get our money back with significant return on our investment,” Wigley says. “And the growers love it. The yields are good and it’s just super simple for us to put out.”
Wigley says his best trial so far was in 2017, when he had five treatments replicated three times and randomized in a field:
- Telone® at 3 gal/A plus Thimet® at 5 lb/A
- Velum Total, 18 oz/A
- Velum Total, 18 oz/A plus Propulse, 13.6 oz/A
- Telone at 3 gal/A plus Propulse
- AgLogic® 7 lb/A at plant followed by 10 lb/A at pegging
“The yields ranged from 5,500 or 5,600 lb/A for the Telone to over 7,000 lb/A for the Velum Total plus Propulse,” Wigley reports. “We found out that the $65-$70 treatment of Velum Total and Propulse out-yielded the $105 treatment of aldicarb.”
Those results are consistent across trials and over several years, says Keith Rucker, Bayer senior technical representative. Rucker and Wigley recommend putting out Velum Total at plant, then following with Propulse about 45-50 days later.
The first step fends off nematodes.
“Velum Total is a nematicide and insecticide that you apply in-furrow when you plant. You put it in the ground right there with the seed and what it does is it protects that root zone of that peanut plant right when it starts germinating and it’s going to give you about 45 days control,” Rucker says. “That first 45 days is the most critical part of that plant’s life. That’s when it’s sinking down that root system, getting that root system that it’s going to draw nutrients and water from all season long.”
Velum Total also suppresses leaf spots and white mold. “I really think that in addition to the nematode control that we’re getting, that added disease suppression is sometimes making our yields even better than we would see from a standard nematode application,” Rucker says.
The second step, a Propulse application at 45-50 days post-planting, fends of disease and nematodes, replacing the first traditional fungicide application with a two-pronged treatment.
“Propulse has the same nematicide that’s in Velum Total, but it also has prothioconazole, or Proline,” Rucker says. Data shows Propulse controls nematode, leaf spot, Rhizoctonia limb rot, peg rot and pod rot. It also suppresses Cylindrocladium black rot, or CBR, and Southern stem blight (white mold)
“With that second shot of nematicide, we’re actually getting it into the pegging zone,” Rucker points out. “We’re giving some additional protection to the roots and we’re also protecting those pegs and those pods that are forming in the soil and keeping the nematodes from feeding on those as well.”
The bottom line for growers is three-fold:
- increased yield opportunity
- higher profit opportunity
- improved nematode and disease control without any additional trips across the field because Velum Total can be applied at-plant and Propulse replaces the first traditional fungicide application
“I’ve seen yield bumps on our farm anywhere from 1,000 to 2,500 lb/A, depending on the pressure and using one product versus both products. And, I’ve seen a very good yield increase in using both products,” Bainbridge, Georgia grower Zack Griffin says. “I feel like we’ll use Velum Total and Propulse from now on as long as it’s available.”