1. Scouting and Fungicides Jeff Miller

2. Scouting for Disease Can be used to determine when to apply fungicides – When needed instead of “just because” Very useful for late blight Not applicable for some diseases – Rhizoctonia – Pink rot – White mold – Early blight

3. Principles of Scouting Pages 142-144 1.Examine every field 2.Take a directed sample (altered from book) 3.Sample across the entire field 4.“Take” enough samples 5.Keep good records

4. Fungicides

5. What is a Fungicide? Any substance or mixtures of substances intended for preventing, destroying, repelling, or mitigating fungal pests. Definition adapted from the Environmental Protection Agency www.epa.gov/pesticides/

6. Think of Fungicides as Crop Medicines

7. Fungicides for Use in Potato Soil fumigant Seed treatments Soil-applied products Foliar-applied products Post-harvest applications

8. Soil Fumigation – Shank Injection

9. Soil Fumigation – Chemigation Chemical injected through water. Sensitive to drift by wind. Large buffer zones necessary.

10. Potato Seed Treatment Dust, liquid, or both Dust – Alder, fir bark – 6% MZ – Worker hazard Liquid ST – Low volumes (e.g. 4 fl oz/cwt)

11. Seed Treatment Equipment Examples from Milestone Equipment catalog. Dust Liquid

12. Soil-Applied Fungicides Incorporated during row-markout – Broadcast – incorporated – Banded in the row In-furrow at planting – Low volume (~5 gpa) – Banded over the seed piece

13. Foliar Applications 1.Aerial – Airplane – Helicopter 2.Chemigation – Injection in water 3.Ground

14. Foliar Application Comparisons ChemigationAerial Cost/acre$1.50-2.50$7.00-9.00 Spray Volume~ 4500 gallons (0.10-0.15”)5-10 gallons Labor (grower)HighVery low Residue in canopyLow*High* Estimated usage40-45%45-50% Canopy residue is lower with chemigation, but distribution is more uniform.

15. Post-Harvest Fungicides After harvest, prior to placement in storage Few fungicides labeled – Thiabendazole – Phosphorous acid – “Disinfectants” During storage Applied as a volatilized product through plenums – “Disinfectants” – Phosphorous acid

16. Disinfect vs. Disinfest

19. Miller Research LLC

22. Ozone

23. Pesticide Labels When used according to the label, pesticides will not cause unreasonable harm to the environment. The label is the law as to how a product can be used.