With June/July comes a great opportunity for Awaken®  applications across multiple crop types across the country.

Awaken® is an extensive micronutrient package with Acetate Technology designed to promote plant vigor and increase the crop’s ability to overcome stress conditions.

We sat down with one of our leading Agronomists Jim Cronin from the Forbes NSW branch to talk about his experiences with Awaken. Jim has been with the company for 23 years and is one of our most respected leaders within the Agronomy team and broader Nutrien Ag Solutions business.

Awaken on Irrigated Lucerne for Hay or Silage:

For Hay and Silage; we use Awaken straight after a cut (once hay has been baled and removed, and once silage has been watered) and with only a small amount of leaf re-growth (our experience has shown you don’t need a lot of leaf before applying) and we see the Lucerne recover faster.

Awaken is usually applied with the insecticide (for Aphids, Heliothis, Leafroller etc) or Herbicide. The rate we use is anywhere from 1.5L to 3L/ha – the higher the rate the more visual the response. With the higher rates you seem to retain more of the lower leaves, especially if a cut has been delayed. Awaken also helps Lucerne recover quicker after a cut. At the higher rates 2L+ you will also see a delay in flowering by 3 or 4 days, it just seems to hang on longer before it throws a flower out. If we were to use it for dryland grazing of Lucerne (not that we do a lot of it), after the sheep are taken off and if there is a rain coming, Awaken would be my No. 1 product - the Lucerne just responds so well to it. We did some rate trials using Awaken on Lucerne with varying rates from 1-3L/Ha and the visual response from the higher rates up to 3L was very obvious. I haven’t had any mixing issues with Awaken.

Awaken on Cereals:

If we graze it the crop will stress. So after taking the sheep off and if applying an insecticide or herbicide, I would add 1-1.5L/Ha of Awaken. If we’ve ever got a crop that has been stressed or damage (insects, chemical, moisture etc), you’ll see an application of Awaken will pick up the crop and help it recover faster. In the floods of 2016, where we had some heavy waterlogged country we used a lot of Awaken & MaxNPact by air as we couldn’t get on with ground rigs. We sprayed half & three quarter paddocks and the difference between applied and not was extreme, the response was amazing when it was so under stress.

Awaken on Canola:

We’ve seen good yield responses up to 300kg/ha from an Awaken application. We’ve got guys who will always add it to their Select spray @ 1-1.2L/ha or if the crop has been stressed at all.

Awaken on Corn:

I prefer to use it as a foliar @ 2-2.5L/Ha from V2 to V6 timing (nothing later than that), more so on our IT Corn and applying with Lightning – we are targeting higher yield and stress management – our corn is later planted where heat stress can be a factor, and possibly a little herbicide stress. Never had an issue with tank mixing with Lightning mixes or Starane mixes.

"Awaken can help. We use Awaken to help push the crop to its maximum potential, whether it’s pre-empting stress or pulling it out of a stress event. For pre-emptive we use lower rates (1-1.5L), but if we’re trying to recover it’s 2-2.5L rate."

Find out more about Loveland’s Awaken®  here.