You have the right soil. You’ve provided enough water. You’ve planted the perfect crop variety and spread the correct soil nutrients.
Is there any place to improve?
According to Hazel, Ky., row crop producer Grant Fridy, the answer is a resounding “yes,” and that extra advantage comes courtesy of Verdesian’s Take Off LS.
“When I first added Take Off LS to my soybean tank mix last year, I wasn’t really sure what to expect,” says Fridy, a longtime member of Henry Farmers Cooperative’s Midway branch store in Murray. “But in almost no time, I could clearly see a difference between the fields we sprayed and those we didn’t. The Take Off LS plants quickly became stronger, healthier, and had better color than the others. I wasn’t surprised, then, when we came away with better yields.”
Take Off LS is a proprietary formulation that mimics a naturally-occurring molecule within the plant that maximizes the acquisition and assimilation of soil nutrients. Simply put, the product allows plants to utilize carbon, nitrogen, and other essential nutrients more efficiently and is a great option not only for row crops, but also for forages, canola, and cereals like wheat, rice, and barley. It mixes seamlessly with herbicides, insecticides, and fungicides without the need for an additional adjuvant.
Midway location manager, Jordan Parr, says that although the chemistry of Take Off LS might be complicated, the concept is simple.
“Imagine that you have two identical cups of a high-quality protein smoothie and two identical athletes,” explains Parr. “One cup has a normal straw like you usually get with a soft drink. The other has one of those big smoothie straws. The athlete sipping through the smoothie straw will get more of those nutrients into his system quicker, making him stronger than the other guy in less time and giving him more hours at peak performance. For crops, Take Off LS creates that imaginary smoothie straw.”
In 2020, Henry Farmers Co-op agronomists decided to put Take Off LS to the test in a Murray County farm trial planted May 1 and harvested October 23. Using Pioneer 48A60 soybeans, staff sprayed one strip of the plants with a 16-ounce application of Take Off LS at the R4 — or full pod — stage of growth.
The impacts were unmistakable.
“The Take Off LS strip out-performed the [untreated] strip by a 4.2-bushel margin,” says Parr. “Let’s just say you have $12 beans at the time — that’s a $48 advantage. You’re talking about a potential five-times return on investment, based on the average retail cost of Take Off LS. I don’t know about you, but I’ll take a five-times ROI on anything!”
Fridy, who raises soybeans, rapeseed, wheat, corn, and dark-fired tobacco on the 1,000-acre, third-generation farm with his father, Joe Bill, adds that Take Off LS has immediately become an important component of his plant-nutrient strategy.
“It has definitely found a home in our tool bag,” says Fridy. “Fertilizer is a big investment, so I feel better knowing that Take Off LS will lift that investment to its peak potential. If Take Off LS didn’t provide a good return, there’s no way we would continue using it, so until they come out with something better … we’re using it!”
To learn more about Verdesian Take Off LS, contact the agronomy specialist at your local Co-op or any GreenPoint.