Potato growers wanting to use the soil nematicide Telone II (1,3 Dichloropropene) have been reminded that they have until 20 March to place orders with professional contractors.

The Pesticides Safety Directorate (PSD) announced in January that sales, advertising and supply of the product would be ‘suspended’ from that date because it failed to meet Annex I criteria.

Dow AgroSciences will re-submit more registration data in the second quarter of this year and the company hopes this information will be enough to allow re-registration of the product.

If not, the Telone II will be revoked and professional users will have until 20 March 2009 to use up existing supplies.

“With current tools available to control Potato Cyst Nematode (PCN) being lost or experiencing reduced efficacy, the use of Telone II is an important way to help growers to produce a high quality, high yielding potato crop, contributing to the profitability and competitiveness of their potato enterprises,” Dow’s John Sellars said.