Genuity SmartStax or SmartStax

Specific Criteria: 

  • 5% of your total corn acreage must be planted to a non-Bt refuge hybrid
  • Strips must be 2 rows or wider
  • Refuge must be planted within or adjacent to the Bt corn field
  • Bt and refuge field must have the same crop history and be planted at the same time

Further Details:

Blocks

Many field sizes and configurations will make the ‘whole field’ option impossible and require that a specific block or portion of a field be planted as non-Bt refuge. This could result in the most effective refuge. One potential problem in this arrangement is the possibility of having a non-Bt hybrid "land locked" by the main Bt hybrid of the field at harvest.

Alternating Strips

Planting alternating strips of Bt and non-Bt hybrids can be an effective refuge. This approach eliminates the need to dump planter boxes and switch hybrids over the course of a field or farm, but it is restricted to planters with individual row hoppers.Each refuge strip must be a MINIMUM OF TWO ROWS wide. DO NOT plant less than two rows of refuge and DO NOT mix Bt and non-Bt seed. This could allow the larva to travel and feed on both Bt and non-Bt hybrid, thus ingesting an insufficient amount of Bt-toxin and increasing the risk of resistance development

Headlands/Perimeter

Planting headland areas with non-Bt hybrids is another option. Some quick calculations indicate that depending on the dimensions of the field, headlands of 6 to 8rows in width can generally meet the 5 per cent requirement on fields up to approximately 60 acres (again, depending on shape).

Adjacent

Adjacent means that the refuge must be planted in the field immediately beside the Bt field and can be separated by no more than a two lane road, path, or ditch.  It can not be separated by an entire field, woodlot, river or major highway.