Lambdastar granted an approval of an Extension of Authorisation for Minor Use (EAMU) registration for use in winter and spring linseed.

“This EAMU approval comes as welcome news as an additional option for linseed growers looking to protect their crops from flax flea beetle,” says Ruth Stanley, Life Scientific’s UK & Ireland country manager. 

Linseed crops are generally most at risk from the pest once cotyledons appear to when the crop is about 5cm tall. Symptoms are holes or notches in the cotyledons or first true leaves. 

Linseed provides a viable alternative break crop where growers may be struggling to establish oilseed rape in the light of CSFB attack, as it is not attractive to the pest and is cheaper to grow with lower nutrient and crop protection requirements. 

Flax beetle damage

However the crop can be at risk from damage from flax flea beetle, but Premium Crops agronomist, Hannah Foxall has found Lambdastar to be an effective insecticide against the beetle in linseed.  

“This EAMU approval increases the range of products containing the active lambda cyhalothrin available to growers and helps broaden the spectrum of insecticides to reduce resistance risk,” she says.  

Lambdastar is a reverse-engineered version of Hallmark Zeon and it is a contact and ingested pyrethroid insecticide for control of a wide range of pests in cereals, oilseed rape, peas, beans, potatoes, sugar beet, carrots, parsnips, brassica and pear crops- and now linseed. 

Mrs Stanley points out best results are seen from 75mls of Lambdastar in 200lts of water as this ensures good plant coverage. “If using Lambdastar with no other products in the tank, a non-ionic wetter can improve application,” she adds 

Life Scientific specialises in bringing high quality off-patent crop protection products to market with the goal of providing customers with better options to meet their plant protection needs, and this recent EAMU for Lambdastar in linseed reflects the success of the approach,” she says. 

For more information on this EAMU visit the Lambdastar product information page on the Life Scientific website https://lifescientific.com/products/uk/lambdastar-uk/