Corn Seed Treatment for Sandhill Crane Repellency – Know your Labels

Eileen Cullen, Extension Entomologist, UW Entomology Department

I received a call last week asking if the insecticidal seed treatment Kernel Guard Supreme^Ò, with the insecticide active ingredient Permethrin, would protect corn seed from Sandhill Crane herbivory. The answer is no.

This spring 2006 Wisconsin, Minnesota and Michigan received temporary approval by US EPA under a Section 18 label for use of the non-lethal bird repellent, Avitec^TM. This repellent can be used as a liquid or dry powder planter box corn seed treatment for field and sweet corn in WI, MN, and MI to protect planted corn seed from Sandhill Crane herbivory.  Please refer to the March 23^rd issue of the Wisconsin Crop Manager newsletter Vol. 13(4), “Sandhill cranes and corn: Avitec^TM corn seed treatment approved for 2006”.  The previous article discusses this reduced-risk biopesticide, it’s repellent effect on cranes, crane foraging behavior in treated fields, and information on how to obtain the corn seed treatment for 2006 planting. To link to the article, please visit http://ipcm.wisc.edu/wcm/, click on “Past Issues 2006”, and select Vol. 13, No. 4, March 23^rd from the list.

Today’s article draws your attention to a key difference between Avitec and numerous other corn seed treatments. It is important to remember that Avitec is a bird repellent (a.i., 9,10-Anthraquinone) and has no insecticidal activity.

The question about Kernel Guard Supreme is a good one, because many growers will remember an older product Kernel GuardÒ which did in fact have a repellent effect on cranes. Kernel Guard was one of several planter box corn seed treatments containing both organophosphate (diazinon) and organochlorine (lindane) insecticides.  In addition to Kernel Guard, other diazinon+lindane seed treatments included Agrisolutions Agrox PremiereÒ with Apron fungicide, Germate PlusÒ Seed Treatment, and Kickstart-VitavaxÒ. The diazinon+lindane insecticidal corn seed treatments were labeled for secondary soil insect pests including seedcorn beetle, seedcorn maggot and wireworms. Another product, Seed Mate IsotoxÒ Seed Treater was an insecticide/fungicide corn seed treatment containing lindane alone as the insecticide active ingredient. Avian (dietary) aversion toxicity and field studies suggest that birds are repelled by lindane treated corn seed . It was the lindane active ingredient in these older insecticide products that had an associated Sandhill Crane repellent effect.

Both diazinon and lindane are under increasing regulatory review, and have become difficult for growers to source. In fact the current product, Kernel Guard Supreme now contains the insecticide active ingredient Permethrin, not lindane. Kernel Guard Supreme will not repel cranes from corn seed or seedling plants. Similarly, while the reduced-risk nicotinoid insecticide corn seed treatments Gaucho (a.i., imidacloprid), Poncho (a.i., clothianidin) and Cruiser (a.i., thiamethoxam) are labeled for secondary soil insect pests at the 0.25 mg per kernel rate, these products have no effect on cranes.