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Fungicide timing ‘critical’ for disease prevention

Late planting has heightened concerns about fungicide application.  University of Missouri plant pathologist Kaitlyn Bissonette tells Brownfield seed treatments have been forced to last longer than usual causing crops to be more disease prone.

“Seed treatments hold up about 21 to 30 days and especially with these heavy rains that we’ve been having that 30 day period really has been extended into about six weeks of rain so those seed treatments haven’t been holding up as well as we would like.” Bissonette says.

She says inconsistent planting dates will make fungicide application timing difficult for disease prevention.

“What’s really going to be critical with this season is understanding which plants are going to be hitting those critical growth stages for fungicide applications and which fields are going to need a fungicide application this year.” Bissonette says.

Bissonnette says farmers will have to harvest crops in a timely manner for late season disease control.