Mildewicide approved for apples and pears

Fruit growers now have access to a new curative and protectant mildewicide with full label approval for powdery mildew control in apples and pears, following the recent registration of Cosine.

Containing cyflufenamid, Cosine brings new chemistry to the top fruit sector, offering excellent preventative as well as curative fungicidal action and just one hour rainfastness.

"The registration is great news," says Certis’ technical officer Alan Horgan. "Powdery mildew is generally always present at some level in the majority of orchards, making a robust control programme essential," he believes.

He explains that Cosine’s active ingredient cyflufenamid is already established in the cereals market where the benefits of its flexibility have been illustrated in allowing growers to either prevent or tackle existing infection.

It’s an important product, especially given the need for growers to ensure they have a range of treatment options available to help control powdery mildew, he adds.

Alan notes that to optimise powdery mildew control, the timing of targeted applications is key. "Cosine should be applied at the first visible signs of infection and foliar attack for best results, with at least one application aimed at the primary infection to take full benefit of the preventative and curative activity. And if required growers can use a second application to prevent or control secondary infections," explains Alan.

"Application at green cluster stage will give best results for knocking out the primary infection, but with the treatment window extending until cessation of new growth there are lots of options for growers to exploit this product," he notes. Importantly, because the chemistry group of Cosine is novel in the top fruit market no cross-resistance is likely.

Alan advises its use as part of an integrated powdery mildew and scab control programme. "Scab control using fungicides that claim dual-activity may give questionable powdery mildew control, so unless you can ensure your scab programme is water tight, it makes sense to combine a specific powdery mildew spray with a scab treatment too," he says. There are reports that levels of powdery mildew are particularly high this year.

For use on apple and pear crops the maximum individual dose rate is 0.5 litres/hectare with a maximum of two permitted applications.