®Bird Shield
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Biodegradable Bird Repellents for Agriculture, Industry and the Garden. Off The Wires, News & Views. Vol. 1, No. 1. June, 2009. Welcome to the first edition of “Off The Wires”, the newsletter of Bird Shield® Repellent Corporation, the manufacturers of Bird Shield® Repellent. As you know there are many ways of using Bird Shield® against many different species of birds and in many different situations, from geese eating parkland grass and pigeons on buildings to starlings and other species destroying cherries and other fruit crops. It is our intention to briefly review and update the latest information available to your and your customers for the effective use of Bird Shield® to assist in the control of birds and to minimize the damage they cause to a wide range of crops and structures. These newsletters will be emailed to you monthly and each will be pertinent to the situations you may be facing in the near future. We will also use the newsletter to advise you of any updates or changes in the product registration, directions for use and other relevant issues, as well as advance notice of special promotions and events which may be of interest to you. We welcome any and all feed back or questions about Bird Shield® Repellent or general questions about a bird control problem affecting you. All questions will be answered immediately, by phone or email, and may appear in future newsletters as time and space permits. You may not be the only person with a particular question or problem. We welcome reports and especially before and after photos of any control programs you have participated in using Bird Shield® and with your permission extracts may be used in the newsletter to assist others who may face similar situations. This month we are highlighting the use of Bird Shield® Repellent on controlling birds in sweet corn; a problem with significant financial consequences to the grower. As harvest time is rapidly approaching, now is the time to plan control operations. In controlled field efficacy trials performed under the supervision of Washington State University staff there was a highly significant reduction in bird damage to super sweet corn being distributed as fresh market produce through grocery outlets when Bird Shield® was used. In 12 trials at Olathe, Colorado, Bird Shield® Repellent was applied by air at 1 pint to 1 quart per acre, twice at 5 day intervals prior to harvest. Over the 9 separate fields treated with Bird Shield® there was only an average of 9% damage compared with 49% to 75%+ ear damaged in the 4 untreated fields. In five of the treated fields there was no further crop damage after Bird Shield® was applied. Growers and applicators have also found that incorporating ASANA® with Bird Shield® greatly reduces insect damage as well. There is also serious insect damage to sweet corn immediately prior to harvest which necessitates insecticide treatments at significant expense. In these trials the insecticide ASANA® was mixed with the Bird Shield® thus minimizing the cost of application for both products. An unexpected but significant additional benefit resulted as the efficacy of the insecticide improved substantially. It was found that the active ingredient in Bird Shield® was highly irritating to the insects which crawled out of the husks thus coming into increased contact with the insecticide and so greater control was achieved. To obtain EPA approval rigorous residue tests were also conducted. In these tests, no detectable residues of Bird Shield® Repellent were found on whole corn treated twice, at an interval of 5 days, when tested 5 days after the second application. In seed corn trials all of the seed that was being grown that was not treated with the repellent sustained an average damage of about 68%. Corn treated five to ten days prior to harvest with the repellent sustained about 9% damage. In side-by-side comparisons of two fields (Carnation and Two House), with comparable acreage, complete elimination of damage was obtained by applying the repellent at ten days and five days prior to harvest. No differences appear between corn varieties. Subsequent tests have shown near complete control if the material is applied when the birds first begin to feed on the crop. The increased economic benefits resulting from the application of Bird Shield® Repellent to standing sweet corn are substantial and, if combined with simultaneous insect control, greatly increased marketable yield is likely to result. If you are not already using Bird Shield® in your management program we believe that your serious consideration of the use of Bird Shield® for the protection of sweet corn from depredating birds is well justified. Please contact us for further information or advice on using Bird Shield® Repellent for the protection of sweet corn.
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