Renewable Farming

Feedback from farmers on how WakeUP is helping them

This evening we came across a collection of farmer comments on the benefits they’ve found with WakeUP. The page of comments dates back to 2012, but it could have originated in 2016 because spray drift control, enhanced herbicide performance and foliar-feeding yield response are even more effective now than then. Here’s why:

Dec. 29, 2016 — We have refined and reformulated our ingredients in WakeUP since 2012. The ingredients of WakeUP Summer, for example, are all included as approved food additives on the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s list of “Everything Added to Food in the United States.” These are plant-derived alcohols, fatty acids and other highly reactive products which — when reacted in the proper order and correct temperatures — build tiny colloids.  These colloids have the ionic power to react with water and build “colloidal micelles” which sharply drop water’s surface tension. They also turn water into a highly effective cleanser of waxy or oily leaf surfaces. That enhances penetration of spray materials into crops.

From 2009 through 2011, many farmers learned of this effectiveness and made comments about it. We asked if we could report their comments. 

 

Dale Lenz, Hillcrest Farms Ltd.,Vail, Iowa

WakeUP has worked out really well for us. We tested it on a limited number of acres in 2009 before using it farm-wide every year sinces. In side-by-side strip trials, we found average yield increases using WakeUp of 2 to 3 bu. per acre in soybeans and 2 to 5 bu. per acre in corn. 

More important to us is WakeUp’s ability to allow plants better use of herbicide, foliar fertilizer, micronutrients, or whatever is sprayed with the WakeUP. Any yield increase after that is extra profit.

We use it three ways: mixed with herbicide, mixed with foliar fertilizer, and alone as foliar spray. We use it with herbicide on soybeans at the V3 stage, and at the V6 stage on corn. We plan to continue WakeUP as part of our  management plan.

 

Bruce Johnson, Osage, Iowa

We use WakeUP on ground and air applications with our micros, liquid fertilizers, 21-1-0 and Procidic.

WakeUP makes our spray lay down efficiently and smoothly. When we performed ground inspections of our aerial sprays done with WakeUP, there was a big difference in how the spray adhered to the leaf compared to our aerial spray applications without WakeUP. There was much better overall coverage and efficiency when WakeUP was used in the airplane spray at a rate of just 3-4 ounces per acre.

Without it, the sprays beaded up, and significantly less spray reached the lower leaves. 

On ground applications we typically tank-mix 6 ounces of WakeUP per acre along with of our foliars.

Our crop health has been improving yearly using WakeUP as part of a sound nutritional program.

 

Bob Streit, crop consultant, Boone, IA

We saw enhanced nutrient uptake when WakeUP was used with foliars, resulting in better plant nutrition. In beans, we noticed aphids disappearing in areas that had previously had aphid problems. We attribute this to the improved plant health, which results in a plant signature that is less desirable to insects.

 

David Mohler, Frankfort, IN

Since I started testing WakeUP in 2009, it has continued to provide positive yield response. 

I was very surprised at our yield levels in 2011. Last September, I was not very optimistic on the 2011 crop. This would have been about a week before we began harvest.  

The end result of our efforts were farm averages of 65 bu. per acre on soybeans and 183 bu. per acre on corn.

We are in a 50-50 crop rotation on 2,600 acres. These averages are almost hard to believe with the severe stress that we experienced in July and August of 2011.

The corn average matches our 10-year average. The soybean average is 16 % above our 10-year average and is our second highest average next to 2010.

I am a Pioneer sales rep with roughly 40 customers. As I have met with all of them, it became very obvious that a huge difference in yield existed in a 15-mile radius of our farm.

Many customers had specific fields that performed well.  However, most did not come close to the consistency that we experienced on our farm.

Consistency over a variety of conditions and soil types is the greatest benefit that WakeUP is providing for our farm. By spraying WakeUP, I am convinced that improved plant health is allowing greater consistency and higher average yields.

 

Arlynn Aldinger, Wilcox, NE

Our favorite use of WakeUP is with starter applied in the furrow for corn and soybeans. There is a definite yield response. 

In 2010 when we added 3 oz. of WakeUP in our starter — compared with just 1 oz. — corn yields in strip trials went up 8 bu. per acre.

When we increased the WakeUP rate in our soybean starter blend from 1 oz. to 3 oz., the soybean yield rose by 6.9 bu. per acre.

Those yields are profitable, but we wouldn’t have noticed the increase without our combine yield monitor. There are so many variables in every field and every season that yield benefits of that magnitude don’t show up unless they’re measured carefully.

 I like WakeUP as a drift control when spraying crops.  The spray just stays together. It also makes nutrients and  herbicides adhere to the leaf better. The applied material absorbs faster and more completely.

Usually we apply herbicide and foliar nutrients six or eight weeks after the crop is up, and tank-mix WakeUP with the other ingredients. So far, I haven’t applied WakeUP at the 2-leaf stage.

 

 Steve Henning, Clarksville, IA

I have used WakeUP since 2009 and love it. Whenever my sprayer heads to the field, there’s WakeUP in the tank. I top off every spray mix with 3 to 5 ounces per acre of WakeUP. 

In 2010 I had my best soybeans — over 60 bu. — on sandy ground where I sprayed WakeUP at the first two trifoliate stage. In 2011, the elevator was complimenting me on the consistently high test weight in corn. That was unusual, considering our weather stress.

After 2010, I haven’t done yield checks. I just assume a yield benefit because I saw it in 2009 and 2010. I would use WakeUP anyway, just for improved weed control. 

Glyphosate-resistant weeds are showing up all over my area, but my fields are totally clean. 

WakeUP with foliar herbicide makes the spray lay down smooth on leaves, and the herbicide penetrates in minutes.

I think we’ll find more and more ways to use WakeUP, and improve the performance of other nutrients and crop protection products.

 

Ron Monson, ag consultant, Detroit Lakes, MN

Several of my dairyman clients have applied WakeUP, and two of them have told me they’ve seen more milk production. We can’t attribute that totally to WakeUP, as we’ve tried several new things. But from what our dairymen say, they intend to continue applying it on alfalfa and silage, as it appears to raise nutritional quality. 

I’m also interested in seeing how WakeUP works with other ways to encourage soil biological life, such as applying some raw milk on pasture. My clients have seen very encouraging results with milk, and it’s gaining some attention in the media.

 

Tom Durr, Colo, IA

In 2009 and 2010, our strip trials show that WakeUP applied at V2 has given us another 2.5 bu. of soybeans and 5 bu. of corn or better. In 2011, it was hard to measure any yield improvement in treated areas because we had serious wind damage.

In the first week of July 2011, I walked our cornfields and thought we had the best-looking corn we’ve ever grown. There weren’t any leaves with brown on them; they were completely green, clear down to the ground. I really had high hopes for it.

Then on July 11, we had high winds that tore up our cornfields. Maybe 30% green snap. Our crop consultant said we lost at least 50 bu. an acre. Then for the rest of July and all of August, we didn’t have over two inches of moisture, until Labor Day weekend. 

Corn was hard to combine; I had to stay on the upwind side to avoid running over downed corn. 

But even with those problems, we ended up with about 150-bu. average corn yields. Not a disaster, but we would have had 200 bu. or better without the weather setbacks.

I’m planning on using WakeUP again in 2012. Possibly I’ll include some in the starter as well as the V2 application. I’ve always wondered how that early application at the V2 stage can help very much, because there’s not a lot of leaf area yet. However, the results with a V2 spray are profitable. Anything we can do to increase early rooting has to raise yield potential.

 

Brad Hockemeyer, Holland, IA

I applied WakeUP on soybeans for the first time in July 2011, using it to mobilize a micronutrient blend. I also included sugar in the tank mix; I think that was helpful as a carbon source.

Where we sprayed this combination, we had the best soybean yield I’ve ever had — 70 bu. per acre. 

I attribute the WakeUP and micros, applied together, as giving us a 10-bu. yield increase compared to our unsprayed beans. We’ll do this again in 2012.

I’ve been studying the impact of glyphosate on trace element tie-up in soybeans and have to learn more about what this means. I know you encourage tissue tests and we’ll definitely look at that.

The spray coverage was smooth on the leaves, and the micros apparently absorbed quickly without runoff or droplets.

 

Joel Grabin, Oxford, IA

In 2011, I had some weed escapes and tank-mixed WakeUP with my herbicide to take out those large weeds. I really like the way WakeUP makes the spray lay down smoothly on broadleaf weeds. I saw a few droplets on the foxtail, but the control was very good.

Based on that experience, I’ll use WakeUP in 2012 as a surfactant/mobilizer with trace elements and other foliars.

 

Shawn Weirich, Lawrenceville, IL

I didn’t have any test strips on wheat or second-crop soybeans after wheat, but I saw what I needed to know.

I sprayed WakeUP on winter wheat as soon as it greened up in 2011. It made 71 bushels. My best wheat before has been 58 bushels.

Then we planted soybeans following wheat and sprayed the beans with WakeUP really early, right at the first one or two trifoliate leaf stage. The beans made 48 bu. per acre. 

Actually the biggest response we’ve seen is in our garden and house plants, where we spray several times. You’ll be hearing from us for product in 2012.

 

 

Rick Nervig, Hardy, IA

What’s most clear to me about WakeUP is that any spray tank-mixed with WakeUP lays down smoothly on leaves. No droplets or runoff on either corn or soybeans.

That appears to make a real difference in herbicide effectiveness. When I sprayed volunteer corn in our soybeans with herbicide plus WakeUP, the corn was taken out faster than I’ve seen before without WakeUP. (Photo)

I’m still unsure of another “test” with WakeUP in spring 2010. I had planted some soybeans really early. By May 6 the cotyledons were out. Forecasters warned us of severe  for the night of May 8. I took a chance: On May 6, I sprayed the field with 8 oz. of WakeUP in water, having heard that WakeUP increases leaf sugar somewhat.

On the morning of May 9, 2010, all the beans were white with frost. The reported low was 28 degrees. A lot of corn in our neighborhood was severely frosted.

By that afternoon, beans in that field looked dead. I watched them for a few days, and saw beans pushing new trifoliate leaves. We lost some population, but not enough to replant. 

By May 19, the second trifoliate leaves had emerged and I sprayed WakeUP again, 8 ounces per acre.

So that field had two applications of WakeUP by the time it reached the second trifoliate stage.

The 110 acres averaged 65 bu. per acre — my best soybean field for 2010. But I can’t say that was due to WakeUP. We didn’t have any check strips.