Maximise protection, prevent blight infection

Maximise performance with Crusade

Keeping late blight out of potatoes is a season long campaign for growers and one that seems to be getting tougher as the years go by, with seven day spray intervals now standard practice. With resistance to fluazinam now established in the blight populations and a continuing shift towards more aggressive P. infestans populations, such as 36­_A2 and 37_A2, a robust resistance management strategy is essential to safeguard crops and chemistry.

Developed to help tackle the practical problems growers face, Crusade is a flexible drift retardant specifically designed to maximise the performance of blight fungicides by reducing drift and maximising coverage to all parts of the crop canopy.

Why fungicide performance can be improved

Spray drift

Keeping spray intervals tight is a practice that growers have become familiar with, but it isn’t without its challenges when unfavourable conditions can mean spray days are few and far between. Drift is the biggest cause of off-target chemical movement and increases the threat to the crop from late blight where it’s not adequately protected.

Poor coverage

Strong and weak fungicide actives can have weak spots due to poor coverage, and such weak spots in haulm protection are more likely to be found out. Whilst full crop coverage is vital to prevent scattered infection, the “umbrella-like” structure of the plant canopy – a series of interlocking leaves – makes this very difficult to achieve. Leaves are good collectors of vertical moving spray in the upper canopy but leaves and stems lower down can be very hard to reach, moving the risk of tuber blight to the whole crop. 

Maximise protection, prevent blight infection with Crusade

Crusade is a unique and flexible drift retardant designed for use with all potato blight fungicides throughout the growth of the crop, to help maximise protection and prevent blight infection.

Crusade reduces drift and improves coverage

Crusade maximises the performance of blight fungicides by removing the physical limitations on blight fungicides to work at their best – it removes the fine droplets prone to drift, and optimises droplet size in the upper end of the spectrum that enable the spray droplets to penetrate the canopy lower down and be retained.

Droplets cannot be too big because they’ll bounce off the leaf and miss the target or too small, which means they may evaporate and drift off-target. They have to be just right. Crusade creates droplets more capable of reaching the upper and lower canopy and significantly reduces the number of fine spray droplets, smaller than 100 microns, that are the most susceptible to drift. In turn, this effect increases the spray angle uniformity at the nozzle, helping to ensure the correct dose is applied to the target. The addition of Crusade to fungicide sprays therefore helps to optimise coverage to all parts of the crop canopy, preventing scattered infection and ensuring maximum protection to the whole crop.

Proven to maximise performance

The potential efficacy of Revus and a whole range of blight fungicides has been fully utilised through the addition of Crusade.

Work at Syngenta, has shown that Crusade can help to maximise the performance of Revus.

Adding Crusade to Revus made a visual difference to blight control

Syngenta UK Ltd / Eurofins, 2018. Cultivar: Maris Piper.  Location; Appley Bridge.  Planted 14th June.  No artificial inoculation.

Advantages of Crusade

• Tested and proven independently – Crusade has been rigorously tested and proven in SRUC, Eurofins, Syngenta and BASF blight trials over the last 5 years with a range of fungicides where it is has been shown to maximise blight control and blight free yield
• Effective with flat fan and low drift nozzles – Crusade has been designed to reduce droplets at either end of the spray spectrum – it coalesces ultra-fine droplets into small droplets so they are less prone to drift, and it splits very coarse droplets (a feature of low drift nozzles) into smaller droplets so they are less prone to bounce/run-off the leaf. The result is an ideal droplet for maximum protection
• Convenient and flexible – Crusade can be applied throughout the life of the crop, there are no timing restrictions and it is compatible with all fungicides, insecticides and foliar feeds