A testing botrytis season finds a winner
MIRAVIS® Prime fungicide was registered last year, giving berry growers a new solution to control botrytis, and also powdery mildew in strawberries. Given the wet seasonal conditions, the timing was welcome for many growers.
“It’s been a very testing period, we’ve had a lot of rain up here, weekly rain events for the last five weeks, at the front of our major production period. It’s probably been one of the hardest seasons we’ve had for the last 10 years – we haven’t seen a lot of sunlight, which is putting a lot of pressure on botrytis” said Greg Edwards, Elders agronomist on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast.
Mr Edwards used MIRAVIS® Prime fungicide to manage later season botrytis in his strawberry crop, and was amazed with the results:
“I could visually see a variance in the amount of flowers affected by botrytis.”
As botrytis infection starts in the flower and moves into the developing fruit, it is important to protect flowers to prevent disease from taking over.
“Between a MIRAVIS® Prime treated block and a Captan treated block there was a variance certainly in the amount of flowers that had been impacted upon by disease. Now that was a visual” said Mr Edwards.
MIRAVIS® Prime fungicide combines proven fludioxonil (Group 12) with pydiflumetofen (Group 7). The two active ingredients assist the management of fungicide resistance, making it well suited for effective spray programs.
Registered for both field and protected cropping in all berry crops, MIRAVIS® Prime fungicide halts spore germination and kills the fungus before it develops. And being formulated as a suspension concentrate, it offers good compatibility with other crop protection products.
For advisors and growers, there’s the added confidence that MIRAVIS® Prime fungicide can be used later in the crop, with a one-day withholding period. And with one-hour rain fastness, it offers growers flexibility of application ahead of rain or scheduled irrigation.
Despite the benefits for late season applications to protect fruit, Mr Edwards has different plans.
“It’s going to have an early fit where you have that powdery mildew pressure but it’s going to do my botrytis anyway. Early season and then early spring is the time when MIRAVIS® Prime is going to have a fit in our region.”
For more information speak to your local Syngenta representative or visit Syngenta.com.au/miravis-prime.
ENDS
About Syngenta Australia
Syngenta is a leading agriculture company helping to improve global food security by enabling millions of farmers to make better use of available resources. Through world class science and innovative crop solutions, our 28,000 people in over 90 countries are working to transform how crops are grown. We are committed to drive positive change in agriculture and embed sustainability across all aspects of our business.
® Registered trademark of a Syngenta Group Company
