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Poinsettia Production: Preventative Fungicide
By admin | July 31, 2007
We have managed to get some nice roots out of our little poinsettia cuttings and now we must do whatever is necessary to protect them. It’s time for a preventative fungicide drench to keep pythium and rhizoctonia from attacking our beautiful, white roots.
Now before we go and drench a bunch of expensive chemicals all over our poinsettia crop, I want to get a few things straight. First, with good moisture management, the majority of a growers root rot problems can be avoided. When the soil stays consistently saturated, it encourages the development of root rots. So let your poinsettias dry down between irrigations. Second, when you dry your poinsettia down too far you damage the roots and open them up for infection from root rot pathogens. So don’t let them dry down too far. Stay in the middle of the road when it comes to moisture management on poinsettias and you can avoid serious problems. As for chemical applications, there are several good chemical controls out there and most growers have a preferred rotations that works for them.
Good chemicals for pythium and rhizoctonia:
- Medallion/Subdue Maxx…..this is a great tank mix for control of both diseases and now it comes mixed together as the new product Hurricane.
- Terrazole…..this is a great fungicide for pythium, especially in the warmer summer months.
- Plantshield…..I am trialing this treatment on our poinsettias this year. I hear good things about it so I’m going to find out for myself.\
- Banrot…..this is an effective product but I’ve not used it in several years due to the cost. I haven’t done a good cost analysis in a while so I shouldn’t say that it’s more expensive than any other chemical applications.
Whatever you do, always trial a few plants first to test for the possibility of phytoxicity and follow the labeled rates and instructions. My preference is to apply a Medallion/Subdue drench now and follow up with a Terrazole about 4 weeks later and one last Subdue 4-5 weeks after that. I’m very interested in the Plantshield, especially when there new formula is released and that clay carrier is eliminated from the product.
Topics: Poinsettias, Day to day |
July 31st, 2007 at 11:27 pm
I have used Plantshield on vegetative crops and have been pleased with the results (although I haven’t done any side by side trials) - also no REI makes it very convenient.
Doug
August 1st, 2007 at 8:52 am
Thanks for the feedback Doug. I know many growers who use the Rootshield granular formula and they think it is worth the extra cost. If I’m happy with the results of our trial, I will use the granular next year and just incorporate it right into our mix on the soil line.