SELECTING THE optimum timing for T1 spray applications is more important than ever this season, growers have been warned.

Recent wet weather has increased disease pressure in many areas and a robust T1 spray will be particularly vital where no T0 has been used, said Masstock‘s technical manager, Clare Bend.

“Ideally you need to ensure maximum fungicide uptake occurs just as leaf three is emerging. That means going out into the field and dissecting plants,” she said.

Growers can also estimate the optimum timing by feeling the stem for the second node, which forms at growth stage 32, but this is less reliable than cutting the plant open, she noted.

While strobilurins once offered more flexibility to the control of Septoria tritici, growing resistance problems have increased the need for more effective T1 application timing, she added.

Growers must also be aware of reduced azole activity on septoria and rates should be kept high, particularly in high disease pressure situations, Ms Bend said.

New products such as Proline (prothioconazole), Tracker (epoxiconazole + boscalid) and Helix (prothioconazole + sprioxamine) offer good control of septoria and stem-based diseases such as eyespot, she noted.