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Kim Christo of De Sangosse says that their pod sealant is designed to add strength and flexibility to the oilseed rape pod seam. The product acts by forming a film along the pod seam of the top layers of pods. The product was first developed for farmers in Eastern Europe where the summer weather is far harsher and changeable than in the United Kingdom, and Pod-Stik applies a thin pliable layer of  a  unique surfactant and polymer blend across the pod to reduce splitting ahead of harvest.

This year as many crops will not mature uniformly it will be difficult to determine a correct timing for a desiccant. Timed for the earliest maturing part of the crop and you could end up with a high percentage of immature seeds in the sample. Timed for the latest maturing part of the crop and you could end up with loosing seeds as the more mature pods split in advance of harvest.

Is there then a case for using a pod sealant early to protect the more mature part of the crop whilst the rest ripens and becomes fit to desiccate.

Early timing more effective

Typically the pod sealants are tank mixed with glyphosate or diquat at the appropriate desiccation timing, but recent work carried out by De Sangosse suggests that an earlier timing is more effective. Last year in independently run trials Pod-Stik was applied at two timings, either alone in mid June when pods were fully formed or with glyphosate in early/mid July. The earlier timing showed the lowest seed loss when the two timings were compared. One concern raised about applying Pod-Stik early and then going back with a desiccant later is that the Pod-Stik could interfere with the uptake of the desiccant. Kim Christo says that this won’t be the case, as the Pod-Stik target, with appropriate water volume, is the upper pods leaving plenty of plant material for the uptake of the desiccant.

These results suggest that because the product is persistent it can protect pods from the vagaries of the weather for some considerable time. The growers dilemma this year is that with the unevenness of crops the early application can only protect the pods already formed as later developing pods would not even be present to protect. The compromise; Pod-Stik application needs to timed when the majority of the pods are there to be protected.