Eradicant action to stop Microdochium patch spread
Heading into the winter months we are back into full-on Microdochium Patch (Fusarium Patch) weather.
GreenCast has been predicting medium to high disease risk on the STRI site at Bingley since early October. This mild, wet weather has really encouraged major outbreaks of Microdochium Patch.
Added to this, the soil temperatures are currently running at around 5ºC, which means we have little opportunity for grass growth and recovery from any infection that develops.
For those who did not manage to apply preventative fungicide treatments and are now seeing patches develop (above), applying a product with eradicant action will need to be taken to prevent the greens from becoming badly affected.
Daconil Weather Stik is one of the mainstays for winter disease control and has shown good eradicant activity in STRI trials over a number of years. Contact fungicides will also prevent any further spread of the pathogen.
The new fungicide Instrata Elite will also offer an excellent package for curative and eradicant winter disease control. Having the new multi-site active ingredient, fludioxonil, it will also protect against the development of resistance in the pathogen population.
The application of iron sulphate will also help to suppress Microdochium nivale growth, and to disguise any patches that have developed.