Plan for early powdery mildew control with BASF’s Pristine fungicide
{Sponsored} Growers are another month closer to the first fungicide spray of the season. After reflecting on lessons learned from the past season, growers are planning for early disease protection to tackle powdery mildew from the start.
2017 was a challenging year for growers in the Valley, particularly due to weather, said Leigh Ann Harrison, a BASF technical service representative based in southern San Joaquin Valley. “It was a high powdery mildew pressure year in 2016 so there was already the inoculum present in a lot of the vineyards.” Disease inoculum continued to increase during winter and late spring rains.
“In June, more and more powdery mildew symptoms started to show,” Harrison said. “Growers realized they were basically trying to play catch up in keeping the powdery mildew pressure at bay.”
Growers in coastal California experienced powdery mildew relatively late in the season. “Like the Valley, we had a lot of winter and spring rains,” said Kate Walker, BASF technical service representative on the Central Coast. “We had dense vegetative canopy and had a problem with labor shortages. There weren’t a lot of crews available to leaf — which increases airflow and reduces disease pressure. Without pulling leaves and getting air flow, it [powdery mildew] increases disease pressure”
Going into this upcoming season, growers are aiming to plan early and start their crop protection program earlier than they did in the previous year.
Growers are “being proactive, going in with a plan and being diligent at the front end of the season so that disease pressure doesn’t get out of control,” Walker said. “You can always widen your intervals later but it’s difficult to catch back up if you maybe start with a 21-day interval and pressure comes in early. Whereas if you run tight intervals at the beginning of the season, it’s easier to widen them closer to harvest.”
Walker and Harrison recommend BASF’s Pristine® fungicide to control powdery mildew throughout the season. It is a strong crop protection tool, especially for resistance management, because its active ingredients, boscalid and pyraclostrobin, are both effective against powdery mildew.
In the Valley, Pristine fungicide is recommended at the full bloom timing application. “If there is a concern that you have pressure from powdery mildew as well as Botrytis, we recommend the highest 23 oz rate,” said Harrison. Other than full bloom, an application of Pristine fungicide may be recommended at bunch closure at that 23 oz rate to protect against Botrytis or the sour rot complex.”
On the coast, Pristine fungicide can also be used to control powdery mildew and protect flowers from Botrytis infection. “We also will recommend a follow up application, being rotated with different modes of action, at veraison for control of later season Botrytis,” Walker said. Both the bloom application and the veraison application provide plant health benefits leading to earlier harvest as well as higher brix rating.
For more information, visit www.GrowSmartGrapes.com or contact your local BASF representative.
Always read and follow label directions. Pristine is a registered trademark of BASF.
© 2017 BASF Corporation