The Great Zucchini Recovery

Not withstanding Frank Ruberto's triumph, Geoff Doberer, R.U.M. distributor at Molong, weighs in with a similar story.

In mid-March, zucchini-grower Peter Schembri of Canowindra, NSW, had a major problem with 12 acres of powdery-mildew affected vegetables. At Geoff's suggestion a rather sceptical Peter agreed to try R.U.M.. Mixing 5 litres per hectare with is fungicide spray, he treated all but 8 rows, leaving them as a control. After six weeks the results were simply outstanding.

Despite 3 light frosts a few days after the treatment, during which the 8 untreated rows stopped bearing completely, the zucchini vines were going strong in early May!

Locals can't believe Peter was still picking that late in Canowindra. Better news followed as Peter cropped an extra 12 tonnes of zucchinis worth about $10,800.

With a result like that... it will always be 'better late than never'!

See ya later irrigator!

Norm Brown injects R.U.M. into his pivot irrigator on 50ha of Hycom 62

On his 7,500 acre Goolgowi property 'Palmyra', on the NSW Mid-Western highway, Norm Brown has devised a handy method of adding Nitrogen to his irrigated crop of corn.

With 50ha of young maize to water and nourish, Norm chose Nitrogen-rich R.U.M. to inject into his pivot irrigation system.

"I needed an easy way to give the crop a N-boost in the critical periods of leaf enlargement, tasselling and silking", Norm said.

"The crop was yellowing a bit and I was told to add N and Zinc so, because R.U.M. has both and is readily soluble, I decided to introduce it through the irrigation system. Anyway, it would have been a pain setting up an agitation system to add Zinc and N (urea) to the crop."

Norm's subsequent yield of 9 tonnes/ha didn't cause him any pain either. "It worked out well financially, too. A Central Coast dairy, looking for good protein and low chemical usage feed corn paid me $175 per tonne at my gate", Norm said.

"R.U.M. is booked for my barley!"

R.U.M. 'hailed on cotton'

Michael Gibbs' 2,700 acre of irrigated cotton at Goondiwindi was heading for a top yield when a section of the crop was stripped by hailstones in January. With little to lose and a lot to gain, Michael gave R.U.M. one of its most difficult assignments... helping restore the affected crop to health. The picture, (right), tells the story. In early April, Michael was stripping a cotton crop that was yielding between 3.25 and 4 bales per acre. "I'd had some success with R.U.M. on my wheat last year", Michael said, "and I must admit it was a bit of punt spraying the damaged cotton with it. But it came back in."