Seeds to plant alongside potatoes can lend a helping hand with crops, as well as bringing environmental benefits.
GROWERS can now take advantage of the Syngenta Operation Pollinator environmental seed mixture offers for the 2024 season, which have been shown to provide soil structure protection, as well as increasing pollinator species, when planted alongside potatoes.
The range of seed mixes have been selected to be easy to establish and manage, as well as meeting objectives of new environmental scheme payments. Syngenta Sustainable Farming Manager, Belinda Bailey, said many of the mixes create additional ecological and agronomic benefits.
The Green Headland Mix fits within multiple aspects of SFI/Countryside Stewardship, but when planted alongside potato and vegetable crops creates essential protection of soil structure and retention of nutrient and soil in the field.
The mix also includes floristic species selected to provide pollen and nectar sources for pollinating insects and to encourage beneficial predators that reduce pest risks to the growing crop.
The Operation Pollinator Bees ‘n Seeds mix meets all the requirements for winter bird food provision, along with an earlier flowering component that provides a late-season pollen and nectar source to boost pollinating insect populations.
Last year, detailed studies on five farms revealed more than 200 species among 11,000 invertebrates identified in ecological areas sown with the seed mixtures alongside commercial potato and vegetable crops. That included 67 pollinator species and 60 species known to be predators or parasitoids of crop pests.
Independent monitoring of the Green Headland Mix over five seasons had identified more than 140 species of pest predators and 99 UK species that aid pollination. It has also highlighted 118 species of food sources for game and farmland birds, as well as 32 species recognised as rare or notable on conservation lists.
Belinda advised the Green Headland Mix has the flexibility to plant from the end of April right through to mid-September, in most seasons. That makes it an ideal option for uncropped areas surrounding root and vegetable crops, as well as a summer catch crop and companion cropping with IPM strategies.
“It can also be used as a SFI winter cover crop. Farmers and agronomists have had great success when sown after winter barley, with a rapid accumulation of biomass that research has shown retains and enhances nutrient recycling for following crops, as well as improving soil structure.” A non-brassica version of the mix is available for farms where a brassica component could interfere with crop rotation.
Belinda also highlighted the Syngenta Bees ‘n Seeds has been specifically selected with no monocot wildflower species in the mix, which increases the flexibility for herbicide use where required in the farm’s agronomy strategy.
“It fully meets the requirements for AHL2/AB9 winter bird food provision, but also delivers so much more interest and ecological value, with autumn food source and habitat for pollinating insects.”
The Syngenta environmental seed mix range also includes an annual flower mix picked to produce a quick and reliable early flush of colour and food source for pollinating insects in the early summer. The rapid build-up of insect populations can be a valuable part of an Integrated Pest Management strategy, suggested Belinda.
