Berry Exciting Disease Control
It may be a new kid on the block but the positive feedback and enthusiasm that agronomists and their growers are showing for MIRAVIS® Prime fungicide is palpable. Particularly when this innovation isn’t just limited to use on strawberries.
When it comes to new fungicides in berries, and they don’t come around that often, other berry crops get over looked. Syngenta, known for premium products like SWITCH® fungicide, this year launched MIRAVIS® Prime, and the label quickly commanded attention for good reason. This new chemistry delivers one-hour rainfastness, and longer lasting control of key berry diseases; botrytis (and also powdery mildew in strawberries). The extra bonus being its one-day withholding period, a real winner close to harvest.
“It’s nice to have the broad berry category on the label, not just strawberries, to be able to use it in rubus crops and blueberries as well, so it’s good to have Syngenta recognising those other minor berry categories,” Agronomist Michael Gangi from E.E. Muir & Sons, Monbulk, Victoria said.
That’s not to say he wasn’t excited about MIRAVIS® Prime in strawberries.
“With strawberries in particular there has been a lack of available (fungicides) for us to use in the powdery mildew space so this is going to be a nice fit to rotate those other two modes of action that we currently already have – a lot of these modes of action are quite old chemistry now so it’s good to add a brand new active into that market.”
Michael expects more growers will turn to MIRAVIS® Prime before the year is out.
“Because of the short withholding it will work well in our high-pressure intense harvest periods, through October to December when we’re picking at least every two days - this one day withholding it will slip in quite nicely,” he said.
Nathan Kay from Nutrien Ag Solutions, Bundaberg, agreed. “One of my main strawberry growers who also grows raspberries has used MIRAVIS® Prime this season and had very good results. It fits in with their program well.”
Nathan explained that although it has been a dry season, there have been some very heavy fogs and dews, which is where “MIRAVIS® Prime has really helped with managing the grey mould.”
“The withholding period is only one day so it’s really good with berries – spray one day and pick the next. That’s a big thing.” he added. When asked about return-on-investment, Nathan replied: “The less disease you get, of course, the more crop you get because you’re not throwing it on the ground.”
“My growers will use MIRAVIS® Prime again. They’ve taken some older chemistry out of their program and replaced it with MIRAVIS® Prime. It has certainly done the job. The two modes of action also help with optimum protection as well as resistance management.”
Would Nathan recommend it to growers? “Yeah mate, yeah. My main guy used it no worries, no qualms at all. Another one of my colleagues has a good-sized strawberry grower too, and he used MIRAVIS® Prime as well. I haven’t heard any negative results from him, so he’s used it throughout the season with no issues.”
Grower Jim Rozaklis in South Australia agrees. “I sprayed a small area with (MIRAVIS® Prime) mid-May, after last season had finished, and in August it looked like a normal crop. Within two days, with good weather, the fruit turned red and was edible. MIRAVIS® Prime kept that bay for me over the winter. It was outstanding. No other fungicide treatment retained fruit over the winter.”
Click here for more information about MIRAVIS® Prime, or speak to your local Syngenta representative.
ENDS
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