February 28, 2018

1 Min Read

By John Wood, Certis USA Regional Manager

Bloom is finishing on almonds, while pistachio and walnut blooms are just starting. Fungicide applications are not as critical this season as it was last year, but we can still get precipitation well into April. With fruit set happening, manage the potential for disease in your trees by getting your anti-fungal sprays out.

Most conventional fungicides are systemic, translaminar and have residual. An excellent one-two punch would be to treat with a systemic fungicide and a contact material. My recommended contact fungicide is Double Nickel 55. Continue its use in rotation with or in tank mixes with fungicides of different modes of action.

Double Nickel 55 is a broad spectrum preventive and curative biopesticide that brings five modes of action to your spray tank. This makes Double Nickel 55 ideal for resistance management, but it is also easy to work with its 4-hour REI and zero-day PHI. For those of you in the export market, it’s important to note that Double Nickel 55 is residue exempt, so you’ll have no MRLs or limitations on where you export your crop when you add Double Nickel 55 to your spray tank.

 Q. What other biopesticides should I think about using this spring?

  • Add Bt sprays for early worm control of PTB and leafrollers. The Bt I recommend is Deliver biolarvicide. It is based on Bt subspecies kurstaki and is formulated with a higher concentration of Cry1Ac proteins than the average Bt. In short, Deliver has the potency to control the toughest Lepidopteran pests.

  • If you have high nematode counts, consider making MeloCon nematicide applications post-bloom during fruit set when the roots flush and the root zone becomes particularly attractive to nematodes.

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