How much is your fungicide spray costing you?
When the time comes to selecting the right fungicide, the advice you receive is critical in making the most cost effective decision for your business. There are many fungicide options on the market, some relatively expensive and some more cost effective. The main thing is that the product does the job you require and gives you a return on your investment – nothing more and nothing less. At Crop Smart we don’t give advice on what to spray but we are always interested in the recommendations that our customers receive.
Powdery Mildew & Stripe Rust have recently been found in Wheat crops around the state, which has prompted us to investigate a couple of options you have to treat your crop, the variation in cost, and the pros & cons of these options. We have compiled the information below from independent sources around the state and here are the facts:
Prosaro: Cost $21 per hectare at 300ml/ha
Period of protection – 3-4 weeks
Pros – It is ‘said to be’ better for Powdery Mildew due to the double active.
Cons – You need to add Wetter 1000 or Hasten which adds another $1.00 – $4.00/Ha to the cost
Epoxiconazole: Cost $10 per hectare at 500ml/ha
Period of protection – Up to 6 weeks
Pros – Extra 2 -3 weeks coverage. No Hasten or Wetter required. Independent trial work has shown better impact on crop yield and severity of Stem Rust.
Cons – None that our sources have found.
So what advice are you getting? Crop Smart have always promoted independent advice when it comes to running your farming business. Case studies like this one reinforce that belief. You should be receiving Independent advice to use a product such as Prosaro over a product such as Epoxiconazole. To not do so could literally cost you tens of thousands of dollars. So our question to you is, are all the farmers spraying Epoxiconazole now wrong, or just better off?
