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Two applications of fungicide in cereals pay off with quality and yield

May 17, 2016

Cereal acres are up considerably, in part due to an early soybean harvest and a dry fall last year in much of Eastern Canada. Therefore, it will be more important than ever to consider a preventative fungicide application for leaf disease and Fusarium head blight (FHB) this coming season.

Cereal disease specialists advise that there are three important application timings for fungicides: 1) early applications at the herbicide timing; 2) flag leaf timing to control leaf diseases, and; 3) at heading for protection against FHB which negatively affects grade.

“We used Twinline on the farm and do a bit of custom spraying as well,” said Harvey Hill, who farms in Arnprior, Ontario. “We covered over a thousand acres and put it on at flag leaf with the herbicide. It was an easy product to mix and is a no-brainer to use in grain. With Twinline we get great control of leaf diseases and the AgCelence benefits contribute to plant health and plant vigour.”

AgCelence refers to the unique benefits of disease control, increased growth efficiency and better management of minor stress that occur from a select group of BASF fungicides that contain pyraclostrobin.

According to Hill, growers looking to increase their returns should look to the two-pass system. “We use Twinline at flag leaf and then Caramba at heading to protect ourselves from head blight and fusarium,” continued Hill. “I won’t grow wheat without Twinline and Caramba.”

Leaf diseases such as powdery mildew were starting to show up last fall in the winter wheat crop. “With the warm weather we experienced, combined with a dense wheat canopy, controlling these diseases will be more important this year,” said Rob Miller, a Technical Development Manager at BASF Canada. “Growers should consider adding a fungicide to the herbicide to keep disease lower in the canopy and prevent it from spreading upward. Our field research has shown that the two-pass fungicide program with Twinline, either at the herbicide timing or flag leaf, followed by Caramba at heading is the best way to control disease, help reduce the potenital of lodging, protect quality and maximize yield potenital