Protec coating lentils

**JDGreen** · Apr 26, 2011, 07:11

total waste of money Jag. Been there done that.

**grainboy** · Apr 26, 2011, 10:54

NOT A TOTAL WASTE OF MONEY, we do it on all our peas & all our lentils. For us its a management tool I know that the seed is treated, has a good bug count and my dad & hired man dont have to haul around bag of granular.

Does it work better than granular? i dont know but its not any worse and its roughly the same price on the peas maybe a little cheaper & if you are using peat or liquid it will cost more but at least you know the bug count is there.

**JDGreen** · Apr 26, 2011, 11:15

The only way it is advantageous is on virgin
ground possibly. Ensuring high bug counts early
on is obviously good. Used for a couple years
way back. Trials side by side showed no
difference. Then again last years trials with NO
innoculant showed zero difference on ground
that had been treated with rhizobia 6 times over
a 15 year period. Not that i am advocating zero
innoculant but found it interesting. 24 hr
window is plenty adequate imo.

**gustgd** · Apr 26, 2011, 21:39

We used it last year with very good results.
We had quite a few side by side trials and the best results were with the Protec treated seed.

It might just have been less splitting in the airstream but we definitely saw improvement and are doing more this year.

We were using Tag Team granual and Apron max, now going with TT peat Protec and AM

No bags to throw.
Did I mention NO BAGS TO THROW!

**JDGreen** · Apr 26, 2011, 22:38

Im pretty sure the improved results are not a result of protec. But spend your dimes where you want to. I've seen trials done where $1.50/ACRE cheap liquid out performed all the high dollar granulars, tagteams and peats. Bugs are bugs once they are introduced they survive longer than one year. I have neighbors who haven't inoculated a lentil crop in 3 years after repeated innoculation for 10 years or more. There has been no drop off in yield or N fixation to this point. Not sure I have the nerve for that tho. I'm getting a little perturbed at all the snake oil salesman coming around this spring so possibly Im just a little more skeptical than some.

**dave4441** · Apr 27, 2011, 10:13

WE used it last year and was very happy. One man seeding lentils and no messing around with inoculant in the wind. Very uniform application, which i can not say for seed applied at the drill. WE seeded right around the 30 day mark and had good nodulation, but could simply be backgroung rhizobia. DId it again this year.

**JDGreen** · Apr 27, 2011, 12:08

Not saying its a bad idea. Only saying it is pricey
for what ypu get. we batch treat inthe yard so
no messing on tbe field at any rate. I can save
over 15000 a year by being a little proactive with
how i do things in the inoculating game.

**Jagfarms** · Apr 28, 2011, 22:59

This year the price is not bad at $7 bu using tag team
incoculent included and they are applying my apron
max at the same time. Works out to $5.83 acre with a
50 pound seeding rate of red lentils. Cheaper than
granular.

If it works with the same relults I will be more than
happy.

**JDGreen** · May 2, 2011, 07:26

hmmm not to bad. 50 ib seeding rate of red lentils Whats your target plant count at that rate? What variety? Haven't seeded the larger reds like maxxim/redberry at under 65 Ibs for years.

Protec coating lentils