b'PARTNER CONTENTThey Said It Could Not Be DoneC ontrolling thrips is one of the most significant, early-sea- storage and how to apply the technology. Working together, son issues facing cotton farmers. The pest has developedAmericot, Kannar and seed treatment manufacturer UPL per-resistance to several seed-applied insecticides but not tofected the offering to growers.acephate. Applying acephate as a cotton seed treatment for thripsI would offer that we did not get it right the first time before control would be an ideal solution, except that it is difficult towe brought it together for high-scale production, Heather says. apply or even handle seed treated with acephate. Acephate justKannar had been working behind the scenes since 2010, even does not lend itself to being blended into seed treatment, nor doesbefore we knew what the demand would be, and that contributed it adhere evenly to seeds. Growers do not reliably know what rateto a successful and comprehensive seed treatment offering. There of efficacy they are getting across their fields, so they frequentlyare a lot of things that can go wrong in a scenario like this. Com-make a foliar application to limit future injury after thrips havebinations are prone to kick out with some kind of apple sauce or already done seedling damage.cottage cheese-like reaction. That means you go through a lot of A few years ago, Americot, Inc., an independent cotton seedoptions to discover and verify success. There were about 40 trial company, determined to develop a reliable cotton seed treatmententries in our first round of potential ingredients. Kannars K5 incorporating both acephate and high-performance STartUPgrowth enhancer and SlipShine 6200 Flowability Enhancer IMIDA, imidacloprid from UPL, Ltd., to provide early-seasontechnologies came in handy. Our final solution to growers is a seedling protection against thrips seed treatment that provides thrips protection from the moment We were told by several experts that it could not be done,the seed is planted. For our customers, the result is more uniform that acephate could not be successfully applied as a seed treat- growth and seedling emergence, along with essential control of ment, Americot General Manager Chiree Fields recalls. That isdisease and pests.when we approached Sam Cloete and his team with Kannar EarthTraditionally, most of the seed Americot has been selling into Science. We wanted a collaborator to develop a new formulationWest Texas included only their base seed treatment. But now to enhance our existing CottolySTTM seed treatments. We neededgrowers are seeing new challenges in their fields. Americot can something innovative and different from the rest of the industryaddress those challenges with CottolyST Enhanced. Americot that could control seedling thrips and position Americot as anpromotes their higher-level seed treatment because growers see it industry leader. is as a valuable enhancement for early crop establishment. Farm-Together the three companies were inspired to find a solution.ers know both the challenges and potential benefits of acephate The thinking that prevailed was, how can we help growers? Theseed treatment. So, when an Americot sales representative ideal solution would be a seed treatment offering that combineseducates growers that CottolyST Enhanced can successfully keep acephate for immediate protection with imidacloprid that pro- acephate on the seed, then the rep immediately has the growers vides lasting control over thrips. These insecticides needed to beattention.further combined with a comprehensive fungicide package that includes STartUP Rancona, AZOXY and METXL.Kannars seed lab manager Heather Lewis, worked with Americot to determine what enhancers are needed to promote seed safety, stability while in DECEMBER 2020SEEDWORLD.COM /111'