Andrew Seton-Stewart, Senior Account Manager - Horticulture, with Nutrien at Swan Hill in Victoria, says Custodia and Solaris fungicides are compatible with most product mixes and are easy-to-use liquid products – “and growers often prefer liquids’’.

BROADSPECTRUM disease control, a wide application window and benefits for resistance and integrated pest management (IPM) programs are the strengths behind new fungicide options for almond growers.

Custodia® and Solaris® fungicides, from ADAMA Australia, have made a timely introduction in the industry during a period when there is mounting pressure on traditional fungicides including chlorothalonil, propiconazole and mancozeb due to residue concerns.

Custodia, an easy-to-use suspension concentrate formulation, combines the strength of both azoxystrobin (Group 11) and tebuconazole (Group 3) for improved disease control and resistance management.

It offers excellent protectant and eradicant activity, providing a broader window of application to control brown rot/blossom blight, rust and shot-hole, as well as suppress hull rot in a single application.

Highly compatible with other common fungicides and insecticides, Custodia’s systemic and translaminar activity rapidly penetrates leaf tissue to reach the site of infection and/or protect new growth after application.

Solaris, an easy-to-handle emulsifiable concentrate formulation, contains cyprodinil (Group 9), the only mode of action of its kind for use in almonds that assists with resistance management. Cyprodinil is a systemic compound that is taken up into the cuticle and waxy layers of leaves and fruit and is locally redistributed.

Solaris is highly active against brown rot/blossom blight, rust and shot-hole. 

Andrew Seton-Stewart, Senior Account Manager - Horticulture, with Nutrien at Swan Hill in Victoria, said Custodia, in particular, had started to play a role in almond growers’ fungicide programs.

Andrew hails from Swan Hill and has extensive experience in the agribusiness industry and with crop protection across the region.

He said the major diseases in almonds were traditionally wet weather diseases, with pressure varying from season to season depending upon climatic conditions.

“As a result, demand for fungicides can be seasonal, but there has been a reasonable uptake of Custodia,’’ Andrew said.

He said the broadspectrum control and wide application window suited the large almond properties in the region.

“Almond orchards are quite large and it can take over a week to complete a spray pass. When you have such large areas, you can start your applications today and then finish at a totally different growth stage.’’

“Solaris would best be applied earlier, while Custodia can be applied from pink bud onwards and is good to keep up your sleeve for suppression of hull rot, so it gives you a bit more leeway from early to later in the season.’’

He said the dual mode of action formulation with Custodia aided the good disease control spectrum and resistance management, while the active ingredient in Solaris, cyprodinil, was now available in almonds for the first time and so also would be a bonus against resistance.

“Resistance will become an issue. With the removal of some of the traditional fungicides and introduction of site-specific products, it could promote resistance. So, the two modes of action with Custodia will be important.’’

Andrew said the soft activity of the fungicides would benefit bee populations and put a smile on the faces of apiarists.

Easy handling is another benefit, also allowing growers to avoid the dust and smell issues associated with traditional fungicides like mancozeb.

“They are easy-to-use liquid products and growers often prefer liquids – and they are compatible with most product mixes,’’ Andrew said.

He said, importantly, both fungicides also were affordable and the early use of Custodia was “certainly doing the job’’ against almond diseases.

Andrew said there had been some use of Custodia in grapes as well, where it provided protection against botrytis bunch rot and powdery and downy mildews.

“In a wet spring, we can slip Custodia into our programs to achieve better protection under higher disease pressure.’’

Andrew Wardle, SA Commercial Manager with ADAMA Australia, said trials results and encouraging grower experiences had underpinned Custodia’s use against almond diseases.

“Its uptake has been increasing, it’s a pretty compatible product for mixing in other foliar sprays and with both actives in the one drum, it’s a way better product to put out. Both actives by themselves are good, but mixed together, you get a better chance to control these diseases.’’

He said the IPM profile of both Custodia and Solaris fungicides, particularly the soft activity on bee populations, was a major plus.

“Almonds require pollination from bees to produce and corporate growers have arranged contracts with beekeepers to have hives nearby, so they don’t want to knock them around,’’ Andrew said.

“There have been populations that have been completely wiped-out by products that get used in other crops.’’

For further information on the Custodia and Solaris fungicides, growers can contact their local Nutrien Ag Solutions representative or visit ADAMA.com.