COTTON growers utilising Bollgard 3 technology have had pupae busting requirements relaxed, but they are still required to slash or mulch all crops within four weeks of picking.
Mulching is carried out to reduce the risk of Helicoverpa spp, commonly known as the Heliothis grub, from developing resistance to the technology.
A new mulcher on the market is the Falc Kronos 6000. The mulcher is marketed as being able to aggressively mulch in the toughest of conditions.
Available in six metre width, the mulcher will be released by distributor Inlon in time for the 2018 cotton mulching season.
The Kronos 6000 has an overlapping comb shredder bar, which combined with a new automatic belt tensioner, will result in increased performance, efficiency and speed of cotton mulching, said local distributor Gary Surman at Inlon.
“The special overlapping comb shredder bars mulch aggressively through the cotton trash, consistently shredding the stalks and leaving the finest mulch,” he said.
“The shorter the mulch, the faster it decays, setting up the ground for a bumper new cotton season.
“Longer trash results in clumps and problems with water run-off.”
The mulcher runs at a 73.5m/s flail tip speed according to the specifications.
As the mulcher is six metre in diameter it will cover six standard metre cotton beds with additional flails over the crop line.
The gearbox is a 240 kilowatt BYPY with heavy duty drive shafts, and latched covers for easy cleaning and lubricating.
Other features are a floating top hitch with ratchet height-adjustable wheels to maintain a consistent cutting height and a bolted “wear and tear” body lining.