Reliable residual protection with REVUS®
In her five years working in table grapes, Molly Black, Horticulture Agronomist with Elders in Robinvale, had never seen anything like the weather conditions of summer 2022-23. Many of her colleagues said it had been a long while since conditions had been anywhere near as bad, with the grape growing area in north-western Victoria experiencing a prolonged, wet spring/summer period and extremely high downy mildew disease pressure.
“Robinvale is normally a fairly dry area, but we had this vicious cycle of two days of rain, two days to dry out, two good days to monitor blocks and get sprays out and then back to two days of rain again,” Miss Black said.
“I had agronomist colleagues saying it was the strongest downy mildew pressure they’d seen in years; the conditions were just horrendous. The last big downy year was back in 2016.”
“We don’t normally get that level of disease pressure. Our normal multi-site chemistry like mancozeb and metiram was just useless under the conditions - it would just wash off with the constant showers we were having.”
Billy Camera of Superior Fruits is one of Miss Black’s clients. He grows 500 acres of tables grapes at Robinvale which are a mix of Crimson Seedless, Thompson Seedless and Red Globe varieties.
“Growers like Billy were constantly trying to find windows to get sprays on, it was getting very muddy and humid in the blocks with clay soils and they were also under incredible stress with the Murray [River] continuing to rise,” Miss Black said.
“Levy banks were going in all over the place. At one point Billy had three different companies building levy banks on his property.”
Miss Black said Syngenta had delivered training on their Mildew Manager package and she’d noted that both REVUS® fungicide and MIRAVIS® fungicide suited their export MRLs.
“REVUS® is a superior downy mildew product but in the past our growers may have had trouble justifying the expense. Being a drier area, we really didn’t have that much demand for REVUS® prior to this event,” Miss Black said.
“With the extreme disease pressure, we just knew we had to go with REVUS® and at the high rate. We really needed that 21 days of protection.”
“The LOK+FLO technology of REVUS® means it actually goes into the leaves. We knew it would do its job and didn’t have to worry that the next 20 mm of rain was going to just wash it off.”
In late October Billy sprayed the whole vineyard with REVUS® fungicide at 60 mL/100 L plus MIRAVIS® fungicide at 20 mL/100 L, except for one low lying patch where he got bogged. It meant that ten rows missed out on the spray application.
“Billy called me and said you have to come and have a look at this! I was totally under the pump with the weather conditions, but he was so keen for me to come and see,” Miss Black said.
“The 10 rows that he hadn’t been able to spray had downy mildew spots and infected bunches all over the place. It was like chalk and cheese compared to the vines that did get the REVUS® plus MIRAVIS® spray.
“To see REVUS® make such a difference in downy mildew control at such an important time was amazing. Those 10 rows that missed out had mancozeb on them five days earlier like everywhere else. The only difference for the season was that one missed spray of REVUS®. It was a boggy spot, with high relative humidity and perfect conditions for downy mildew.”
“The constant showers really showed the difference from using REVUS®. Spending the extra dollars on something that was going to stick really paid off.”
“Once that patch dried out, we kept spraying when we could for the rest of the season, but the damage had already been done.”
“The bunches infected at that time struggled to get to maturity which equated to about 50% crop loss.”
Miss Black said the horrendous season was a great demonstration of how important good residual protection is at that pre-flowering stage.
“There was extremely high demand for REVUS® last season because of the conditions and growers were scrambling for it everywhere,” Miss Black said.
“We already use good chemistry like strobilurins at 80% capfall but it’s likely that many growers will be using REVUS® pre-flowering now.”
“Everyone is saying make sure we have REVUS® in the shed for this season. They all want it on hand pre-June.”
REVUS® fungicide is a Group 40 fungicide that is best used pre-flowering to the end of flowering (E-L 17 to E-L 26). It provides long-lasting protection against downy mildew in grapes, via its unique LOK+FLO action with the active ingredient locked tightly to the waxy layer of the plant and translaminar flow into the leaf to give residual protection. The LOK+FLO technology also ensures REVUS® fungicide remains rainfast once dry, to deliver consistent and reliable disease control. REVUS® fungicide provides flexibility of application without adverse impacts on pollinators for safe use within an IPM program.
“The longevity of REVUS® fungicide with protection out to 21 days actually makes it one of the best value fungicides on the market” said Syngenta Viticulture Product Lead, Scott Mathew.
“Besides being one of the cheapest fungicides when viewed on a cost per days basis, it also stretches your application timing out by another week, saving both time and money. For excellent value protection, REVUS® fungicide is really one you cannot go past.”
For more information contact your local Syngenta representative or visit syngenta.com.au/revus
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.
