Gustafson LLC’s new Raxil® MD-W seed treatment, recently approved by the Environmental Protection Agency, will make it more convenient for wheat and barley growers to protect their stands from wireworms and early season diseases with a single seed-applied product.

Raxil MD-W is a combination of the insecticide imidacloprid, for suppression of wireworm activity on seed and young seedlings, and the systemic fungicides tebuconazole and metalaxyl. Imidacloprid, the active ingredient in Gaucho® insecticide, provides growers with an effective alternative to Lindane insecticide. The two fungicides are the active ingredients in Gustafson’s Raxil MD seed protectant, widely used by wheat and barley growers for protection from early season diseases including smuts, Pythium damping off, Rhizoctonia root rot, Fusarium and other diseases.

“Many customers have been adding Gaucho to Raxil MD for protection against wireworms,” says Glen Karaffa, small grains product manager for Gustafson. “With Raxil MD-W, we have eliminated the need for mixing the two products. It gives seed conditioners and their growers a convenient, easy-to-use product that combines proven disease protection with the insecticidal activity of Gaucho.”

Karaffa says Gaucho provides excellent protection against wireworms and has been well accepted during the three years since its introduction. Effective at a low rate of use, Gaucho is easy on beneficial insects and is an environmentally prudent choice.

Raxil MD-W will be packaged in 50-gallon returnable drums, 200-gallon bulk containers, and 2 x 2.5-gallon jugs.

Raxil and Gaucho are registered trademarks of Bayer.