Migrate for Ag

As mentioned in my last post "Starling Managment Plan...", I would like to try to use the product called Migrate for Agriculture.

According to the manufacturer (Rejex-it) this "makes treated cherries, grapes and blueberries unpalatable to birds. It works as a sensory repellent and irritates the mouth and stomach of birds who try to ingest the treated berries, without causing adverse physiological reactions in the birds. Rejex-it® Migrate™ for Agriculture works because it affects the behavior while causing no actual harm to the bird." [For more visit http://www.rejexit.com/ag.asp]

I personally received several positive testimonies from blueberry growers in Hillsboro, Oregon stating this product indeed does work.

Some suggest it can be expensive. I think this will depend on how one views Migrate's overall effectiveness (what it saves from fruit predation).

So instead of spraying it on every plant in every row on every acre, I would like to suggest the following application:
1. Spray alternative row-post segments. Because each row has posts evenly spaced that serve to support wire, watering systems, we would spray every other segment of posts. Thus that particular row would be treated by 1/2.
2. Spray only the first and second perimeter rows. Often Starling "scout birds" encroach into the field by testing things from the outside-in, thus landing and feeding on rows at the edge of the field. We would spray (as per above), but only the first two rows outlining the field. We would also stagger the application on the second row so as to alternate between row-posts different than done on the first row.
3. Spraying is done by a worker using a backpack 3-gallon hand sprayer. This would allow the Migrate application to be directed to the actual fruit clusters.
3. Baseline strategies concentrated in center rows. Allow the Kite devices to cover the center portion of the field. [See prior posting on what these consist of.]

This would reduce the cost substantially.

Current Migrate costs equal $80/gallon (purchased in 5-gallon quantities). Manufacturer indicates a hand sprayed application as per above, will require 1-quart of Migrate per row that has plants 3-feet wide, with a row 1300 feet long. This 3900 square feet. One quart is required per 4000 square feet. Thus the product cost would be 1 quart ($20) times 4 rows equalling $80 per application. However remember we are only spraying every other row-post, thus reducing the cost by 1/2 to $40. Factor in labor of around 3-hours (@ $12/hr) equalling $36, one application along this strategy would cost around $80.

From this you can figure other scenarios (increasing the number of rows, spraying the whole row, etc) to get some idea for the cost.

As to effectiveness, both blueberry growers and the manufacturer indicate the product works (free of rain) for up to 14-days. Most effectiveness is within the first 10-days.

Again if you were to pencil out the numbers from the above scenarios, if you ran 4 applications (1 every 10 days), the cost would be $320 for the season. If you doubled the treatment spraying, it would be just over $600. Even if you quadrupled the spraying area, it would be $1200. Again when viewed as a quiet alternative to Lp cannons, and what will be saved from Starling fruit predation, this is a small percentage of a cost to the grower.

I'd love to see this added to the Starling Management Plan. My hypothesis is that the grower would have a very effective set of tools that provide relief from loss from unreasonable fruit damage, AND would provide relief to his neighbors. A win-win deal.

CS

REMEMBER: The Villain is the Starling. It is not the grower.