Canola pod sealant approved

Pennsylvania ag input firm Miller Chemical has picked up Canadian registration for a pine-based, food-grade polymer to help prevent pod shattering in canola crops.

The product, called Pod Ceal DC, has approval from Health Canada’s Pest Management Regulatory Agency for use in canola and mustard crops. Winnipeg seed company BrettYoung, which has exclusive Canadian marketing rights to the product, said it will sell a limited supply of Pod Ceal this year.

Pod Ceal, applied by ground or air on canola crops when the earliest plants show a transition to ripening, adds to the waxy layer on the outside of the plant, the company said. It’s meant to allow later plants to grow and ripen as well, rather than force the farmer to terminate the entire crop before its time by swathing.

The application would ideally take place when the first pods in the field transition from dark green to light green, Miller said in a product brochure.

Pod Ceal is then effective for 40 days after application, the company said, and while it doesn’t eliminate pod shatter altogether, it allows the plant and pod to continue to ripen by allowing moisture out of, but not into, the pod. The protective layer is expected to stretch as the pod expands.

Pod Ceal is a new formulation of a previous Miller product used on specialty crops in the U.S., according to BrettYoung marketing director Garry Van Den Bussche.

Given the rising costs of fuel and economics of farming, such a product is now more likely to offset the costs of swathing a canola crop, he said.

The product is sold by the case, each containing two 10-litre jugs, good for coverage over 40 acres, the company said. It recommended 20 gallons of water per acre with the product for ground application and five gallons of water per acre for aerial application.