Night Spraying Experiment hosted by SFSDC
On June 21st and 22nd, SFSDC coordinated an On Farm Experiment of night spraying. The purpose is to demonstrate practices for control of the lesser clover leaf weevil in red clover seed production fields while minimizing the impact of insecticide application on natural and commercial pollinators.
The entomology data about the pollinators and the weevils is being analyzed and will be combined with the yield data collected off the 5-acre strips harvested with the grower’s equipment. The results will be presented at our Annual General Meeting and published in the Prairie Seeds Newsletter.
This project is funded by the Saskatchewan Government Ag Demonstration of Practices and Technologies (ADOPT) program with industry technology and product support.
Thanks to the forage seed growers who collaborated on this On-Farm Experiment and to all those who attended our two night spraying events, listened to the guest presenters who travelled to northeast Saskatchewan to give tech and bug talks and witnessed first hand, a field robot spraying the red clover seed production fields!
Demonstration of night spraying technology for control of lesser clover leaf weevil
The Saskatchewan Forage Seed Development Commission hosted an on-farm field demonstration project made possible by the Government of Saskatchewan’s Ag Demonstration of Practices and Technologies (ADOPT) program. The ADOPT project activities are a collaborative venture with partial funding contributed by the Government of Saskatchewan and the Government of Canada under the Canadian Agricultural Partnership. Thank-you to the forage seed growers who permitted use of their fields for the demonstration, and to the technology developers, Raven Industries, Pattison Liquid Systems and Bayer Crop Science, for contributing their resources including use of the technology and technical support.
Forage seed growers or potential growers, forage seed agronomists and input suppliers attended the two field demonstrations held June 21st (Field 1) and June 22nd (Field 2), 2021.
This project has two objectives
Demonstration of night spraying as a risk management strategy for control of a persistent and nocturnal insect pest of red clover, the lesser clover leaf weevil, while reducing impact on natural insect pollinators.
Demonstration of technology safe for use in night-time application of pesticides -autonomous spraying with high resolution (single nozzle) product control. This innovation in spraying is developed in Saskatchewan and was commercially available in 2018.
The Bug
This demonstration builds on what we learned from levy-funded research on the lesser clover leaf weevil done by University of Saskatchewan entomologist, Dr. Sean Prager and graduate student, Dan Malamura (Images below credited to Dan Malamura). The forage seed levy supported the entomology research done on grower farms in northeast Saskatchewan, 2018, 2019.
Download or view the presentation: Integrated management approaches for controlling lesser clover leaf weevils and optimal seeding rates for seed production by Dan Malamura, Bill Biligetu, Sean Prager Department of Plant Sciences, University of Saskatchewan.
The Technology
Sean and Dan’s work gained knowledge about the behaviours of the lesser clover leaf weevil, confirming its nocturnal habit. New technology for night spraying is now available for red clover seed producers.
The project will demonstrate night spraying using the autonomous system (no tractor, no driver) consisting of the CONNECT-PLU spray technology made by Pattison Liquid Systems, Lemberg, SK, mounted on the Dot Power Platform™ (now called OMNiPOWER) and the insecticide, Decis 5EC, Bayer Crop Science.
The CONNECT-PLU is made by Saskatchewan-based Pattison Liquid Systems, Lemberg, Saskatchewan. OMNiPOWER is an autonomous propulsion unit built by Raven Industries, and is illustrated below with the sprayer, the U-shaped power platform (left) and the CONNECT PLU (right). The images are provided courtesy of Raven Industries and Pattison Liquid Systems.
The combined spray/propulsion unit is a field robot, removing the human element from operation, relying instead on a pre-programmed planned path of travel. The sprayer is able to operate at night while pest activity is high but beneficial insect activity is at a minimum, and lower winds generally minimize spray drift. In addition, the weevils are very sensitive to motion and the sprayer has the spray boom located forward, increases the chances of spray contact with the weevil adults before they drop deep into the plant canopy. We will spray with Decis®100EC, a Bayer Crop Science product and the only registered product available on the prairies for suppression of the lesser clover leaf weevil, active ingredient deltamethrin.
The Methodology
Two commercial fields of red clover grown for seed (first year seed harvest, fall 2021) will be used as the location of demonstration plots.
Location Field 1 Arborfield, SK
Location Field 2 Carrot River, SK
Three treatments will be demonstrated: (1) day-time application of Decis 5EC, (2) night application (3) no-spray untreated check. The plots are 2640-feet (½ mile) long, separated and 121-feet wide (the width of the sprayer boom).
Entomology methods follow Sean Prager and graduate student, Dan Malamura, ADF 2017007 co-funded by the forage seed levy and SK Ministry of Agriculture.. For each treatment, sweep netting and sampling of clover plant stems is done prior to, and after spray application, in order to estimate the population of adults and larvae. Pollinators are identified based on samples collected in blue vane traps and bee bowls used to monitor abundance of the bee pollinators.
The fields are desiccated prior to harvest. Grain yield is determined using a commercial combine and harvesting the middle 90 feet of each treatment which runs the length of the quarter section, minus the width of headlands. The seed is unloaded into a weigh wagon grain cart to determine yield.
Economic analysis of the differences between the treatments is determined on the basis of yield and market sale price at the time of harvest/sale price offered to the grower.
Schedule for June 21 and 22
Following the Saskatchewan Government public health orders, the outdoor events will accommodate up to 150 people and individuals are requested to maintain social distance. Please be prepared to purchase your own food and drinks or have your own packaged supper (see below for limited availability of food services on Monday).
DAY 1: Monday, June 21 Demonstration on Red Clover grown for Seed Production Field 1
Preparing for day spray demonstration, June 21, 2021.
Night spray demonstration, June 21, 2021.
Tech and Bug Talks at Jordan River Sportsground, 6:00 PM, Night spray at dark
Demonstration Field 1 is at a red clover field in the Arborfield area. Here we develop the field plan, and apply treatment 1 (daytime spray), the actual time will depend on wind and temperature, anticipate late afternoon.
Setting up for Technology and Bug Talks
Forage seed growers meet for Technology and Bug Talks at the Jordan River Sportsground. Gloria’s Catering, Carrot River, will provide sandwiches (50 people) and drinks for purchase. Talks will start promptly at 6:00 PM so that some of the guest speakers may return home to Saskatoon that evening.
Following a general description of the project, our Tech talks begin with Raven Industries, Emerald Park, SK, describing he OMNiPOWER platform and autonomous farming . Thesingle nozzle, oscillating boom spray and clean-out technology talks will be given by Pattison Liquid Systems, Lemberg, SK. The Bug talks and present information about the lesser clover leaf weevil, pollinators and their natural habitats, beneficials and the Prairie Pest Monitoring Network.
After tech and bug talks, growers go to the field to see the tech in action, spray when it is dark, providing temperature and wind conditions are suitable for spraying..
DAY 2: Tuesday, June 22 Demonstration on Red Clover grown for Seed Production Field 2
Day spray demonstration June 22, 2021
Night spray demonstration, June 22, 201
Tech and Bug Talks at field site, ~7-7:30 PM, Night spray at dark
Demonstration Field 2 is at a red clover seed production field in the Carrot River area. We first spray during the daytime, anticipating early morning or late afternoon, the actual time will depend on wind and temperature.
Tech and bug talks will be in the field, time approximately 7-7:30 PM.
Technology and Bug Talks Field 2
Harvest update September 2021
We harvested Field 1 on September 12th and Field 2 on September 27th. We measured seed yield for each of the three treatments at Field 1 using a Par-Kan weigh grain cart kindly provided a forage seed grower in the area, and at Field 2 using a similar cart owned by the field trial collaborator.
Many thanks to our forage seed grower-research collaborator team, for providing access to their red clover fields, assisting in arranging the field day and tech-bug talks and taking an active role in this research project including putting their experience to use for timing of harvest and fine-tuning the JD 9600 combines for efficient harvest.
Attend our winter 2021 meetings or check back to the website for results from the entomology information gathered from sweep net samples of the adult stage lesser clover leaf weevil, larvae counts from the axils of the red clover bouquets, findings from the pollinator traps, seed yield and economic analysis.