By Clint Thompson
Peanuts are planted across the Southeast. It is time for farmers to start thinking about how to protect their crop this year against two persistent diseases – white mold and leaf spot.
According to Wilson Faircloth, agronomic service representative with Syngenta, two products that growers should keep in mind because of their long-lasting effectiveness are Miravis and Elatus.
“The two together are the perfect pair,” Faircloth said. “You’ve got 28 days’ worth of leaf spot control with Miravis. Elatus brings about 28 days of white mold control. You put the two together, you really can spray and walk away.
“It gives (farmers) the flexibility of a couple of things. No. 1, they can turn their attention to other things at the farm. As you know, the peanut farmer has got something else on his hands. He’s got cotton or he’s got corn, or he’s got maybe even vegetables to tend to as well. Also, it gives you a lot of piece of mind when you need to be spraying every two weeks but can’t. Maybe you’ve got weather conditions, you can’t get in and it’s too wet to spray. Now, you’ve got a product that lasts a really long time. It gives you flexibility around those kind of things, too.”
Elatus Strong on White Mold
Elatus contains two active ingredients that are tough on peanut diseases, including Solatenol, which is very good on soil-borne diseases and also has leaf spot activity as well; and Azoxystrobin, which has been active in peanuts for many years and is still very good on white mold.
White mold is often the top cause of the loss of peanuts due to disease in a season. Sclerotium rolfsii, the causal agent of white mold, is a fungus that remains in the soil between cropping systems and waits for the next susceptible crop to be planted. The disease becomes more problematic when growers fail to use proper crop rotations. Growing peanuts behind peanuts is highly discouraged because of diseases like white mold.
Miravis Tough on Leaf Spot
Miravis is very good on leaf spot and is the longest lasting leaf spot product in the marketplace, says Faircloth. It is largely a preventative product. Almost all peanut varieties grown in Georgia, Alabama and north Florida are susceptible to leaf spot, including Georgia-06G, the predominant variety grown in Georgia.
These two products are valuable in a year where plant stand issues are a major concern for growers.
“We’ve got peanuts now where we finally have got them going and heading in the right direction. In some places, the stands may not be exactly what we wanted them to be. But either way, we’ve got to protect what we do have so we can make the most out of it. The only way we’re going to make a good return on our investment is to make plenty of yield,” Faircloth said. “Elatus and Miravis are going to give us that opportunity. If you start with Elatus and follow that with Elatus and Miravis together, then you’re setting yourself up to take care of all of the diseases, no matter which one happens to be popping up.
“We tend to see the same diseases every year. The question is always, when will they arrive? Will they arrive early? Will they arrive late? Last year, looking back to 2019, all of our diseases, especially white mold, started showing up at 30 and 40 days after planting, which is unusual. But we can count on those diseases to show up every year.”
To learn more about Elatus or Miravis, contact your local Syngenta representative or at www.syngenta-us.com/fungicides/products.
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