The chemical company BASF has warned pea growers that they should be inspecting crops for disease on the lower leaves and be prepared to spray as flowering approaches.
With wetter weather on the cards, BASF is concerned that there will be an increased disease pressure on pea crops.
Simon Francis, agronomy manager for BASF, said: “The weather usually dictates the use of fungicides in peas, with damp and humid conditions at flowering and pod set encouraging rapid development of disease. But there is normally very little time between risk assessment and the need to apply the fungicide. So growers will need to act fast and apply a fungicide for the preventative control of the three most important diseases in the crop, namely leaf and pod spot (Mycosphaerella and Ascochyta) and grey mould (Botrytis). BASF has two fungicides recommended for use in peas - Walabi in combining peas and Caramba in combining and vining peas.”
The leading pulse fungicide in France, Walabi is an effective combination of two complementary fungicides, chlorothalonil and pyrimethanil. The fungicide is recommended at a dose rate of two l/ha and can be applied to any combining pea variety. It can be used towards the end of flowering, proving there is a two-week interval between the first and second treatments.
Jonathan Ball, BASF peas and beans product manager, said: “Chlorothalonil offers strong protectant activity, whereas pyrimethanil has proctant, translaminar and vapour phase activity throughout the crop canopy. This reflects in better all round disease control.”
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