Stop Birds Pulling Corn Seedlings
Jeff Carter, UVM Extension Field Crop Specialist jeff.carter@uvm.eduVermont corn growers have a new product
available this spring to stop those birds from pulling up your corn
seed and young seedlings. Avipel bird repellant has been approved
for use in Vermont for this planting season and has a proven record in
other states to stop corn pulling by blackbirds, crows and even
sandhill cranes in the upper Midwest. The Vermont Agency of
Agriculture processed a FIFRA Section 18 label to allow use here in
Vermont effective April 26, 2010. The product is available through your
local agrichemical suppliers in Vermont and they want to hear if you
have a need for this product.
This is a planting time hopper
box treatment for field corn and sweet corn to stop birds from pulling
up sprouted corn seed and seedlings. The active ingredient,
9-10-Anthraquinone (Avipel) acts as a taste deterrent and is naturally
found in many plants. Studies show this product is safe for
humans, wildlife, the birds and the environment. One packet
treats 1 unit of corn seed, 1 case covers 125 acres.
This
product seems well-suited to the farmers in Vermont who report
extensive bird pulling damage in fields that require re-planting and
lead to high economic losses. Since other farmers do not seem to have
this problem this seed treatment option will only be used on a small
portion of the Vermont corn crop this year. If you decide that you will
use Avipel this spring, I'd like to track the results on your farm so
we can document reduced bird damage and use the data to get EPA
approval for continued use in Vermont.
This emergency use label
for Vermont is the result of an FCEA collaboration.
(Farmer-Consultant-Extension-Agency) This winter Eric Clifford, a dairy
farmer in Starksboro told his feed consultant, Marcel Moreau about the
problems he has had with crows pulling many acres of corn last year.
Marcel knew that Avipel has been used very successfully to deter crows,
pheasants and cranes in the Midwest. Eric called me at UVM Extension
and asked if this was a product we could use here, so I contacted Cary
Giguere at the VT Agency of Agriculture for his help. Cary was able to
pull information from Arkion Life Sciences about the Avipel labels in
other states and made an application to EPA for a use label in Vermont.
If you would like more information about use of Avipel please contact
me at UVM Extension, 68 Catamount Park, Middlebury, VT 05753. Phone:
802-388-4969 or e-mail me at jeff.carter@uvm.edu.
This site is maintained by Sid.Bosworth@uvm.edu, Plant & Soil Science Department, University of Vermont.
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Issued in furtherance of Cooperative Extension work, Acts of May 8 and June 30, 1914, in cooperation with the United States Department of Agriculture. University of Vermont Extension, Burlington, Vermont.University of Vermont Extension and U.S. Department of Agriculture, cooperating, offer education and employment to everyone without regard to race, color, national origin, sex, religion, age, disability, political beliefs, or marital or familial status
Last modified April 27 2010 01:01 PM