Lettuce Seed Treatments for Desert Regions

Now is the time to start deciding on the type of lettuce seed treatments you will be planting and or distributing for the desert growing season.  For head lettuces, Germains offers two pellet options that are suitable for the desert growing conditions ProPellet® Heavy aka PPH® or OxyKote® for both conventional and organic cultivation practices.

Lettuce Seed Treatments for Desert Regions

Our most popular lettuce pellet for the desert tends to be OxyKote® which is a tan 13.0, heavy, split type seed pellet offering excellent plantability and uniform placement. The other option is the ProPellet® Heavy (PPH®) pellet.  PPH® is versatile 13.0 white, heavy, melting seed pellet that allows rapid oxygen uptake. Favored among leafy vegetable growers located in the Pacific Northwest and California growing regions the PPH® pellet is also suitable for the desert growing conditions.

Crop Protection Seed Treatments for Lettuce

Stand establishment is one of the most critical steps in producing a successful crop of lettuce which seed technology is developed specifically to improve the speed of emergence and protect seedlings upon germination that helps improve the final stand. To further maximize crop performance, seeds pelleted for desert planting should be stacked with emergis® priming, goseed®, and other crop protection treatments.

Our crop protection treatments for lettuce include:

Conventional

• Allegiance –fungicide
• Apron – fungicide
• FarMore® F300 –fungicide
• FarMore® FI400 –fungicide/insecticide
• NipsIT® –insecticide (CA/AZ only)
• Thiram -fungicide

ProBio® Organic

• Actinovate® -fungicide
• T-22® -fungicide

Lettuce Seed Pellets for Baby Leaf

If you are planting Baby Leaf crops, you may want to consider our Proflo® encrustments. Proflo® is a heavy encrustment coating, designed specifically for vacuum seeders. Proflo improves singulation during planting vs. planting raw seed. If you are planting with a spider planter, we recommend Proflo® Precise which is a heavy, precision encrustment, designed to improve singulation and flow through the planter. Proflo® precise reduces the wear on the planter’s sponges. When using a precision planter, Proflo® precise allows a grower to plant 2.5 M per acre vs. 4M raw seeds per acre

If you are a Grower and or Seed Dealer who is cultivating or selling the same variety of lettuce in two regions, you may consider coating all of your seed with PPH.  Opting to use one coating for both areas will alleviate some of the hassles of inventorying one variety of lettuce coated with two different types of pellets and or seed treatments.

Desert Trials and Data for a Number of Varieties

We understand that switching to seed coatings brings a sense of uncertainty as to whether or not it will work in your growing conditions. Germains Commercial and R&D Teams along with multiple Seed Dealers and Breeders have conducted field trials on several varieties to confirm whether or not the PPH or OxyKote lettuce pellets perform in either region. Please contact us today for trial results and or if you wish to conduct a field trial with any of the seed treatments mentioned in this article.