Graham Jenner, campaign manager for horticulture, admits to some surprise at the way growers have chosen to use Elvaron Multi. “Most people appear to have been using it as a summer application, for control of storage rots,” he says. “It has provided a good alternative for growers that had previously been using fungicides as a post-harvest dip..”
Elvaron Multi was designed and recommended first and foremost as an effective scab control option, to be applied immediately post-blossom. “There are a lot of good options around for scab control, but Elvaron Multi is different chemistry and provides a very useful anti-resistance option, since it attacks the fungus at many different sites. It will find a place in any sensible fungicide anti-resistant strategy,” says Jenner. “However, using it at the stage it has been applied this year should ensure that residues are minimised when the apples are picked and also when they go into store. It will be extremely interesting to see how the product has held up when the fruit emerges from storage next year.”
This is an approach that fits nicely into the practices preferred by the UK supermarkets, which would like to see residues minimised. Jenner says: “Elvaron Multi is not a new molecule, having been available for many years on the Continent. But we have brought the data package right up to date for modern standards.
“It is a multi-site inhibitor, which attacks the metabolic pathway of the fungus in a number of different places. More recently introduced products tend to be single site inhibitors and the fungus can find its way round the ‘roadblock’. Some of the old fashioned chemistry was too broad spectrum, but the modernised Elvaron Multi can work alongside other more specific modern molecules to enhance the anti-resistance possibilities, and increase their long-term effectiveness. It is a logical chemistry to use.”
Also in top-fruit, the well-established insecticide Calypso has enjoyed a successful year and Runner, a product used on caterpillars in apples and pears, has also benefited from the proliferation of pests in the UK orchards. “It was predicted to be a bad year for caterpillars and aphids after the build up at the end of the last year and overwinter. Spraying conditions were difficult early in the year and when the timing of application isn’t quite right, the problem multiplies.”
Bayer CropScience is working on a new acaricide, which will also control pear sucker, and a fungicide mixture for apples and pears, both of which still have some time to go before commercialisation. “The acaricide could potentially be around by the end of 2005, but in all probability will be ready for use in 2006, depending of course on Pesticides Safety Directorate approval,” says Jenner.
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