Australia
May 20, 2022
Nutrien agronomist Sigurd Howard described MIRAVIS® Prime fungicide as “an excellent product particularly for botrytis".
A short withholding period, higher yields and a great return on investment have impressed horticulture agronomists, advisors and growers since MIRAVIS® Prime fungicide was launched.
MIRAVIS® Prime fungicide has already demonstrated effective control of sclerotinia and botrytis across a range of leafy vegetable crops, including iceberg head lettuce, multi-leaf varieties and brassica leafy vegetable to deliver high-quality produce. Nutrien agronomist Sigurd Howard described MIRAVIS® Prime fungicide as, “an excellent product particularly for botrytis – I find it very strong in lettuce and leafy vegetables. Its sclerotinia efficacy (is) very high in smaller lettuce.”
“I’m finding the 3-day withholding period is amazing,” Sigurd said, “and obviously rotation and resistance management with fungicides is a key thing so having that as a rotational tool with the two modes of action (Group 7 and Group 12) is great. Everybody knows the Group 12 but the two in combination just give it a bit more strength. It’s really handy as a final application in the lettuce program if I haven’t used up all my Group 7 mode of actions.”
And the bottom line?
“I haven’t done the numbers yet,” Sigurd said, “but in terms of return on investment it’s a visual thing with MIRAVIS® Prime – you look down a row (of lettuces) and the less holes you have in your crop the better the result.”
So would he recommend it?
“I’d absolutely recommend it. I’d recommend it purely for its flexibility of use. It’s got so many crops on the label - not just focussed on one crop; it’s got (all) leafy veg, which is a great thing.”
Lettuce grower Travis Talbot of Talbot Farms in Clyde Victoria was straight out the gate the day MIRAVIS® Prime fungicide was registered for sale last year to get a drum and as Australia’s first commercial buyer quickly realised the product carried obvious commercial benefits.
“It (MIRAVIS® Prime) definitely made a difference on the sclerotinia. I used it on the second to last spraying for my season and it appeared to stop (it) pretty rapidly. I’ll be putting it out again.
“The one advantage that it does have over most other sprays for sclerotinia is the short withholding period. Where most sprays for sclerotinia you’re talking a seven to fourteen day withholding period and with MIRAVIS® Prime having a 3-day withholding period, well, you know, as you go into harvest you don’t want to be spraying. When iceberg lettuce is headed up, you want something with a short withholding period. So that’s its advantage to me.
“I’ve had some experience with some other short withholding sprays for sclerotinia and I’ve found that combined, when you spray multiple things at once, they burn iceberg lettuce quite easily and MIRAVIS® Prime didn’t do that, so that’s a plus to me as well,” said Travis.
With its broad compatibility with other products, MIRAVIS® Prime is easy to use within a protectant spray program. The short withholding periods allows growers to use close to harvest, the one-hour rain-fastness offers growers flexibility of application ahead of rain or scheduled irrigation, and the combination of two modes of action helps mitigate the onset of resistance.
Use of MIRAVIS® Prime fungicide shows the combination of complementary actives fludioxonil (Group 12) and pydiflumetofen (Group 7) delivers strong but safe protection from the hard-to-control diseases sclerotinia and botrytis by attacking fungi at different stages in the life cycle. In the field, that translates as increased yields of superior marketable quality produce, boosting the return on investment and the farm’s bottom line.
For more information about MIRAVIS® Prime visit syngenta.com.au/miravis-prime or speak to your local Syngenta representative.
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