With the strong likelihood of an early harvest and a lead time of five weeks to achieve good grain store hygiene, farmers will need to start thinking about what they are going to use to control grain pests.
Dr. Stormonth, Technical Manager of Interfarm Ltd., explains that the warm spring may have encouraged grain store pests in the empty store fabric and these pests will be ready to infest new parcels of grain when placed into the store after harvest. "Grain pests can lodge in the smallest of places, such as cracks, crevices, airways, ducts, intake pits and elevators. All these areas will need thoroughly cleaning of all residual material, debris and dust, paying special attention to the likely places where pests can be harboured. Then growers should apply an appropriate treatment to the fabric of the store, well in time before harvest, which will be earlier than normal this year due to the dry spring."
Dr. Stormonth explains that there aren’t many grain store treatments to choose from, and if growers are looking for a proven non-chemical treatment with no resistance issues, they should consider using a biophysical product derived from diatomaceous earth (DE), such as Silico-Sec.
"Consisting of highly micronised specific amorphous silica (silicon dioxide), Silico-Sec abrades and damages the cuticles of insects and mites, removing the water-proofing waxes and resulting in desiccation and death of the pests. Being a biophysical product, it controls any pest, including grain weevils, saw-toothed grain beetles, red-rust flour beetles, cosmopolitan food mites and flour mites. Importantly there are no resistance issues."
"Silico-Sec is a natural, non-toxic alternative to OP treatments that can be used in both conventional and organic farming systems," adds David.
Using the specially developed Venturi Applicator, Silico-Sec is applied as a dry dust over the entire fabric of the store, including walls, floors, equipment, ventilation ducts, intake pits, elevators, rafters, corners and crevices. "Thorough and even coverage of the whole fabric and structure of the empty grain store is essential in order to get the best results," advises Dr. Stormonth.
Silico-Sec contains up to 96% inert silicon dioxide as a diatomaceous earth powder derived by a special process and consisting of highly micronized amorphous silica (silicon dioxide). It can be used as a store fabric treatment as well as on stored grains and oilseed rape for the prevention of invertebrate pests such as mites, weevils and beetles when used as part of an integrated storage management strategy. For milling wheat, growers should check with their grain merchant. There are now very few products suitable for use on oilseed rape and Silico-Sec is an ideal product for this purpose.
To treat store fabric, Silico-Sec is applied as a dry dust at a rate of 10gms per square metre. It has both protectant and curative activity. It is packed in 15-kg bags and is available exclusively from Interfarm distributors.
