Bayer CropScience’s crown rot (Phytopthora cactorum) fungicide Fenomenal (fenamidone + fosetyl-aluminium) has been approved for application via drip irrigation to strawberries.
Previously the product was approved for application to strawberries by pre-transplantation dip, post-transplantation drench and post-transplantation spray with a maximum of two applications per year. Claire Matthewman, Bayer CropScience product manager for fruit and vegetable crops, says the addition of drip irrigation to the product label is a huge gain for strawberry growers.
“Crown rot is a massive problem for today’s most popular varieites – Elsanta and Sonata – in soil and substrate grown crops. Being able to apply Fenomenal by drip irrigation will really help growers of table-top and substrate grown crops which are difficult to drench.”
A standard sequence for transplants has been a Fenomenal dip at planting, as roots are starting to grow, followed by a spray a month to six weeks later when roots are actively growing and plants are putting on new leaf growth.
“This approach has been giving very good results and growers will now be able to switch the first treatment to drip irrigation two weeks after planting. Over-wintered crops can also now be treated by drip irrigation treatment, rather than a spray, as plants come to life again in Spring.”
Application sequences permitted by the new label are; dip followed by drench, drip irrigation or spray; drench followed by drench, drip irrigation or spray; drip irrigation followed by a spray or second drip irrigation but not a drench. Maximum individual dose by drip irrigation is 75 g product per 100 L water run through the irrigation system at a rate not exceeding 3 kg/ha at a volume of 100 ml diluent per plant.
The new product label is available to download from www.bayercropscience.co.uk
