New seed treatment combines fungicide, insecticide

SEYMOUR, Ill. — An all-in-one soybean fungicide and insecticide premix seed treatment is on track for commercial release this fall.

BASF’s Bamquist seed treatment offers five active ingredients for broad-spectrum control of insects and diseases.

The new seed treatment doubles the amount of mefenoxan active ingredient for protection against pythium and phytophthora, alongside multiple modes of action targeting fusarium and rhizoctonia. In addition, the ready-to-apply formulation provides systemic protection against key chewing and sucking insect pests.

“This is a brand-new product launch for BASF and actually marks our first entry into this pre-mix fungicide-insecticide space. It will be out for sale this fall for the 2027 growing season,” Nick Tinsley, BASF eastern Corn Belt technical field representative for seed treatment, said at the recent Field Insights event at the BASF Midwest Research Farm.

“In the past, if someone was using BASF seed treatments in soybeans, they would have had to combine a few different products in kind of a tailored solution. Not only does Bamquist have excellent performance in the field, but it also offers a lot of convenience for any of our retail customers that want to use an all-in-one type of solution.”

Agronomic Changes

Agronomic changes and earlier soybean planting have driven the need for seed treatments.

Tinsley noted that when he started his agriculture career 20 years ago doing soybean aphid trails in northwest Illinois, a typical planting rate was 160,000 to 180,000 seeds per acre.

“That’s pretty high. I think the standard now is something like 140,000 seed per acre, and I know folks that are dropping 115,000, 120,000 seeds per acre,” he said.

“What that means is when you drop your seed, every single one of those seeds becomes more important that it makes it out of the ground and gets off to a successful start. That’s part of what has driving the adoption of seed treatments.”

A move to earlier soybean planting has also driven the need for seed treatments.

“When we were planting our soybeans two decades ago, it was probably quite a bit later. June planting dates for soybeans weren’t that uncommon 20 years ago. What the reality is, the date of 25% planted has shifted back six to nine days and the date of 50% planted has shifted back almost two weeks,” Tinsley said.

“Where we used to get our soybean crop planted 50% of the time by the end of May, now that’s moved up to the middle of May. Many folks are planting much sooner than that, even in the early part of April the farther south we go.”

This is problematic for a number of reasons.

“One, diseases. When we plant earlier, we’re generally planting into colder conditions and oftentimes more wet conditions, and this is going to mean the soybeans are going to be more at risk for diseases like pythium, fusarium, all these other types of pathogens that thrive in cooler conditions,” Tinsley said.

“The other thing is insects. It’s really kind of changed the insects that threaten the soybean crop. When you plant late, the biggest threat is going to be maybe bean leaf beetles. They’re going to be out there and feeding on things for a while, getting ready to attack that soybean crop.

“When you plant earlier, different insects become a problem. Seed corn maggot, wireworm, grubs can be more problematic under those cool conditions.

“All of this is to say that fungicide-insecticide seed treatment has become really a major part of the discussion in terms of getting that crop off to a healthy start.

“Using a seed treatment like Bamquist is going to be able to provide protection on all those fronts, so that farmers can worry about other things that they’re potentially more interested in such as weed management, spraying fungicides, things like that.”

The pre-mix fungicide and insecticide product can be used on any seed brand.