Cereal growers have another option for controlling mildew this spring following the launch of a new product from Makhteshim Agan.

Alpha Fenpropidin 750EC is the latest in the firm’s Alpha-branded range of products, providing curative control of the disease and will be suited as a partner to triazoles and other fungicides at the T1 timing, the firm said.

Fenpropidin can also boost the speed of triazole activity against septoria, by improving uptake of the chemistry, claimed the firm’s technical manager, Stuart Hill.

It also has some activity against brown and yellow rust, he said.

Mr Hill said mildew is already present on lower leaves in forward crops and the situation could be exacerbated if wetter weather prevents growers from applying T0 products and creates high disease pressure at T1.

“It is important that current chemistry is maintained in the marketplace providing growers with a wide range of cost effective options.

“Some of these products have a different mode of action to back up the triazoles and strobilurins which are increasingly under resistance pressure,” he said.

To find out what FWi’s Crop Watch agronomists around the country are saying about mildew pressure this week, see the latest reports (updated every Tuesday).