PROMISING results from banding a soil moisture agent with canola and cereal seed at seeding have prompted plans for its wider use and experimentation on the Fowler family's properties near Williams and Harrismith for the upcoming season.
Mark Fowler and his wife Tish, together with his parents, Doug and Jenny, crop 5000 hectares mainly to barley, oaten hay, oats and canola, while they also run about 4000 sheep.
Stratification of soil profiles and rising non-wetting concerns, enhanced in recent times by dry summers and continued stubble retention, sparked their interest in the SE14 soil moisture attraction and retention agent from SACOA last year to help germinate crops early on their properties.
"Early seeding has been at the heart of our business model and we have to do all we can to get crops germinated early," Mr Fowler said.
"It can be the difference between an April germination and a June germination, so we are using all the tools in the toolbox to get crops germinated."
The Fowlers also use high seeding rates, narrow row spacing, deep seeding, edge-row sowing and soil amelioration to help optimise germination.
"The wet-dry scenario, as well as the completely dry scenario, is always the most challenging and is where SE14 has a real place," he said.
"Any tool we can use to germinate crops in that scenario is money well spent."
Mr Fowler said the key targets with SE14 were to get crops germinated early while soils were warm and moisture was available, also to reap the benefits of a longer growing season; achieve good early plant vigour and access to nutrients, resulting in strong, healthy plants that also compete better against disease and weeds; and to establish even crops, which was particularly beneficial when it comes to oaten hay and canola.
"Evenness of germination means we can cut our hay at the best possible growth stage to optimise quality," he said.
"This also allows faster curing, which leads to better quality hay and reduced risk.''
Mr Fowler said even establishment also provided for better weed control, especially in crops like canola, due to better spray timings and improved crop safety and efficacy.
"There was a clear difference in germination last year using SE14 - and in the yield outcomes on the headers," he said.
"We can see the use of the product has strong merit not just in the soil types you expect, so we will look at more experimentation with it this year.''
Mr Fowler said after dry-sowing canola with SE14 at Williams last year, he was amazed to see it germinate after just a few millimetres of rainfall in April.
"Incredibly, we probably had 30 per cent germinate, which was alarming because we thought we might then get crop mortality while it was dry, but it showed what can be achieved," he said.
The remaining 70pc germinated in early May, however Mr Fowler said the initial 30pc that germinated probably accounted for about 60pc of the final crop yield.
He said it was also interesting that where canola was sown into pasture with SE14, it did not emerge after the first small rainfall event, but when it did, it was the best he had seen canola germinate.
"With a few rotations of pasture, it can be hard for canola to come up, so that was a pretty compelling result," Mr Fowler said.
Another benefit with SE14 was highlighted during their harvesting of barley.
"There was a barley paddock where the top half of it we knew to be a non-wetting challenge.
"The outside laps and bottom half of the paddock were not treated and the top half was and you could see the line where there was a black fungal stain on the untreated parts.
"We are going to look further at that - whether it's a function of improved plant health or different crop stage.
"I think it goes back to general plant health.''
The Fowlers band urea with their seeding rigs at Williams and Harrismith and so have followed a simple approach with the SE14 application, banded together with trace elements and fungicide via a 6000-litre tow-behind FarmKing liquid cart.
At Harrismith, the seeding rig comprises a 19,000L Morris 9535 air cart and 18-metre (60-foot) John Deere 1830 air hoe drill pulled by a Case 550 tractor, while at Williams the sowing system features a 12,000L Simplicity cart and 12m (40ft) Morris 9000 bar pulled by a New Holland TJ375 tractor.
Double shoot air kits and Stiletto paired-row seeding boots deliver the seed and compound fertiliser, as well as the urea spaced 65 millimetres away both to the side and at depth.
The SE14, trace elements and fungicide mix is applied at the back of each paired row, directly with the seed and compound fertiliser.
Mr Fowler said they banded the SE14 moisture agent predominantly at 3L/ha with 60L/ha of water.
However, in the coming season he expects to trial water rates up to 100L/ha, subject to logistics, after locally-reported success at these rates last year.
The Fowlers used pre-diluted SE14 product last season and while the mixing with trace elements and fungicides presented no issues, this year they will follow a similar process with undiluted product.
"I think we will again induct it out of the shuttles into the nurse tank that has agitation using a venturi system or direct suck," Mr Fowler said.
"It's all mixed at the chemical point in the nurse tank and goes from the nurse tank straight into the liquid cart in the paddock.
"The liquid cart has agitation.
"We decided to go for a hypro pump on that, rather than a ground drive, because we wanted to keep it well agitated.''
Agronomist Courtney Piesse, who assists various growers throughout the region on behalf of Elders, said a number of farmers had devised different liquid delivery systems and were benefitting from applications of SE14 with trace elements and fungicide after they originally established a local 'Gravel Lads' group.
Mr Piesse said on the Fowler's property, some of the better results with SE14 had also occurred on the more wettable soils.
"Some have been on red dirt that is not significantly non-wetting, and the establishment differences have been huge,'' Mr Piesse said.
He has been familiar with SE14 since early trials with the product near Kojonup and said he had always recognised definite establishment differences.
Particularly under early, dry conditions and especially on gravelly and sandy soils, Mr Piesse encouraged growers to conduct their own assessments with the soil moisture agent.
He said they could apply it with the seed in a mix with trace elements and fungicide, and, if also applying liquid nitrogen, Mr Piesse advised using the highest water rates possible.
