Last week we headed south to meet with 4th generation Raymondville Texas farmer Tom Wetegrove. Tom is an innovator and a thinker that’s in touch with his crops in a very personal way. He admits to heading out in his sprayer daily—and from the comfort of his machine he is able to view crop progress and challenges which are his inspiration for new strategies and methods to improve production.
Long known for their onion and sugar cane crops, the Wetegroves also work with Pioneer Seed and plant corn as a rotation crop. This year Tom applied Stoller’s Bio-Forge® to his irrigated corn crop for the first time. He treated his corn with 1 pint/acre of Stoller’s Bio-Forge at the V4 stage. What he saw surprised him. The corn treated with Bio-Forge had a much larger root mass. In addition the treated corn had larger diameter and fuller ears—with pink tinge that showed more sugar movement to the ears with better maturity.
All-in-all Tom predicts the larger roots and ear size will translate into a 15% increase in his corn yield. Time will tell. Tom is scheduled to harvest the crop in July. We’ll keep you posted as things progress.
Thanks to Tom who helped us record his story and trudge through muddy fields… the nearly 4” of rainfall made conditions a little challenging.
Recent reports from Kip confirm that the soybean plants that started with Bio-forge treated seed have resulted in early branching. In fact , Kip reported branching at a remarkable V1 stage in the soybean plant growth cycle. Seed-treating with Bio-Forge is gaining acceptance by row crop many farmers. Early emergence and increased seedling vigor are the reasons growers’ site.
Next Kip took a risk and used herbicide to “burn down” his healthy soybean plants while at the V1 stage. The theory is to eliminate the leaf node on the main/single stem and put the plants into shock—driving the plants to start a dual branching/stem phenomenon…thus leaving more nodes and opportunity for pod set. The “burn down” took off all the vegetation and it looks like the plants are bouncing back. The current challenge is cool temps and more rain.
Stop back to learn more about the next step Kip will take to push his yields to the limit.
Here’s a quick sound bite from local grower/retailer…talking about the positive look of wheat when the seed has been treated with Bio-Forge. A strong start is key to a high-yielding finish! To view the crop and comments click on WISCONSIN VIDEO now.
Last week the Stoller team traveled to Northwestern Iowa to talk with area dealers to help them better understand the benefits of Bio-Forge®. Dr. Albert Liptay, Director of Research and Development for StollerUSA broke away from the research center in Texas to further explain how Bio-Forge relieves stress in plants.
Northwestern Iowa received heavy rains in the last few weeks with temperatures dropping below freezing. Soil temps had dropped to near 48 degrees on the day we stopped in to chat. Area growers had most of their crops planted, but growth is still at the early stages and struggling through the cold and wet.
Dr. Liptay spoke at three sessions detailing how Bio-Forge will aid these fields if applied before or immediately after these stresses occur. Bio-Forge promotes hormone balance to ensure optimal growth activity and high yields —overcoming stress conditions like the ones growers here have been experiencing.
We stopped in Algona, Britt and Emmetsburg, Iowa and found all were interested to hear how Bio-Forge worked and how it can work for area growers. We are eager to hear how the fields in Northeastern Iowa are doing in a few weeks! Fortunately sunnier with warm temps is predicted by the weather man.
©2011 Stoller USA. All Rights Reserved. Home About Us Products Media Center Dealer Locator Careers Contact Us Sitemap | Privacy Policy Sales Sign In 
