Take care when defining grain
Take care when defining grain
By Andrew Blake
BE careful to define "grain" when planning to use store insecticides this harvest, warns Norfolk farmer and HGCA oilseeds committee member Frank Oldfield.
Although some organophosphorus products may still be legally used on cereals, all approvals for using OPs on oilseed rape were revoked last July.
Mr Oldfields attention was drawn to the potential confusion when a crusher rejected a recent load of rape because of a passport declaration.
"We had put on the passport that it had been spot treated last autumn with Satisfar."
Like Actellic (pirimiphos-methyl) dust the product is no longer manufactured.
However, Actellic D liquid and Reldan (chlorpyrifos-methyl) remain permitted for pre-harvest store hygiene and as admixtures to cereals, confirm manufacturers Syngenta and Dow. Both firms continue to support those uses under the EUs review of active ingredients.
Actellic dust, effectively in a use-up period, may be sold until Jul 25, 2003 and applied until Aug 31, 2003. Interestingly there is no time limit on how long cereals treated with it may be traded thereafter, notes a Syngenta spokesman.
For growers seeking to mimic the effect of a cereals surface dusting there is still the option of treating a relatively small volume of grain with liquid insecticide and spreading it over the untreated bulk, notes Dalgetys Peter Corbett.
An alternative for mite control is the new desiccant dust developed at CSL, he notes. *
• OP approvals for OSR admix revoked July 2001.
• Actellic dust on cereals allowed only to Aug 31, 2003.
• Actellic D & Reldan still OK as store sprays & cereals admix.
• Desiccant dust option for OSR surface treatments.