It is essential that potato growers with existing nematicide application equipment have it tested and serviced to NSTS approval in time for the coming season.
That is the advice from application specialist James English of British firm Techneat Engineering, which in addition to manufacturing nematicide applicators and in-furrow fertiliser placement equipment, is an official NSTS testing station.
Mr English adds that precision placement of granules for potato treatments in the field is now more important than ever, especially as extreme rainfall will have washed out most of the available residual nutrients in the soil.
“With the agronomic focus on reducing overall nutrient use in potatoes, to cut costs and protect against environmental loss, placing nutrients directly in the soil where they will get fully utilised by the emerging crop makes economic and environmental sense.”
Techneat applicators fit a range of equipment used for potato seedbed creation, including bed tillers and cultivators. The Apcal cartridge – a single hard-wearing metering unit to replace multiple parts of traditional rotors – provides increased flexibility, and cartridges are available to fit Horstine Farmery applicators that are no longer in production.
The same metering technology also means that the company’s granular applicators can be adapted to sow cover crops, small seeds or environmental mixes, or the application of Avadex granular herbicide for grassweed control.
“That means one machine can have multiple uses across the farm, aside from potatoes,” he continues. “This makes it highly cost effective and, should the farm ever cease potato growing or nematicide use, for example, it remains a useful tool and strong resale value.”
James also highlights that growers looking to use Nemathorin in agronomy programmes, or to try out fertiliser placement techniques, can use the new Techneat Hire scheme to try a Maxicast, Terracast or Placement Pro unit in their own planting system, without the capital outlay or commitment of buying a machine.
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