Blog: Why I wouldn’t be taking my foot off the pedal when it comes to potato blight
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After twice the average monthly rainfall in February, there is some irony that much of the country needed rain by the middle of April.
But we should not forget how well the 2019 potato crop went in without the same potential reservoir of late blight infected tubers in the ground which we have this year.
The crop established steadily before we were deluged in early June, just when the crop was taking off.
Zorvec® helped many growers cope with stretched intervals and cover the ground when travelling was difficult.
This year, dry conditions will make heavier land come up in blocks which will be hard to break down. Lots of clods will be passed from destoners into the wheel tracks.
The dry conditions may delay the volunteers from 2019, but the blight threat from unharvested tubers still remains. We are still about four weeks away from having a crop emerging into unknown conditions.
Our weather feels ever more variable and unpredictable, so why would you not want Zorvec in your blight programme to provide the clean base to your programme?
This season, Zorvec is available in a single five-litre pack, co-formulated with benthiavalicarb (as Zorvec Endavia®), providing the same level of protection which served many so well last year, but in a single bottle for ease of use.
Including Zorvec Endavia twice at the challenging rapid growth phase will ensure control of stem blight and protection of new growth, providing a clean base for the stable canopy phase of your programme.
This leaves one or two Zorvec sprays in your locker for use later in the programme when disease pressure and spray interval pressure may increase further.
It’s fair to say Corteva’s blight fungicide never got the opportunity to shine in 2018 when it was launched. Conditions were so dry and hot, blight pressure never built.
Fast forward 12 months and the lasting protection and robust activity offered by Zorvec was indispensable.
The product is most effective when used preventatively, during the rapid growth phase of the crop.
Once the infection is there farmers face a significant investment to try and keep it under control, so going for a product and a programme which is more effective early in the season will save money in the long run.
Ensuring our new co-formulation, Zorvec Endavia, applied at the rapid growth phase, will deliver lasting protection through excellent activity on stem blight plus the ability to take out any latent infection in the crop.
By moving upwards in the plant, Zorvec will also provide protection of new growth, a useful additional property in indeterminate varieties throughout the season.