Seed Treatment Coverage Thoughts

Seed treating is a fun topic! Some people go without, some apply it haphazardly, and some people are right on with use rates.

Quality of Treatment 
We calibrate each seed lot so we are within 1% and usually within 1/2 of a % of target use rate.
Coverage is another issue though, as you can be accurate on rates, but is coverage as good per seed or on each seed? Good coverage with treatments means every seed and each area of the seed is coated with the same amount of treatment. That's why rather than using large drums or faster treaters we went a different route for faster treating through our 3rd mobile treater so that coverage would not be impacted.

Shipping Treated Seed 
When booking seed we do work with a trucking company who does haul treated seed if you don't want to put it in your own trucks. More farms are taking treated seed home off season (November - February) and storing like they would fertilizer so it's ready to use when you are. In winter we wait for Chinooks to treat so we have the best conditions for treating as above 0 C means that their will be no freezing and flaking.

How Long Is Treatment Good For?
We often get the question about how long is treatment good for on seed? Most companies say 1 year or more depending on the product. This is because until it is in the soil there is nothing breaking down the treatment, so your effectiveness is good no matter if it's treated 3 months before or a day before.

Peat Inoculant
For peat inoculant most are only good 24-48 hours on seed, while the AGTIV Pea, Lentil, Faba, peat brand we use is good for up to 20-30 days depending on conditions. On peas or faba beans we use 40 ac per pail, and lentils its 60 ac per pail. This means cost is similar per ac vs granular on the pea or faba beans and cheaper per ac for lentils. The nice part of peat is that as long as seed is flowing you have inoculant in the row with no additional work in the field.