Powdery mildews spreading in beet

22 August 1997

Powdery mildews spreading in beet

POWDERY mildew is spreading rapidly in sugar beet during the warm dry weather, warns IACR Brooms Barn.

Although a large area of the crop has now been sprayed, crops where the disease is appearing will still benefit from a sulphur spray, at least up until the end of August, it says.

With British Sugar predicting a C price of £15-£17/t, including transport allowance, and an average yield response of 5-7% in trials, economic benefits at the C price could be £38.60/ha for an outlay of about £10.n