Two-thousand-twenty came with its share of challenges. There was the coronavirus pandemic, August 10th derecho, and widespread drought. And the list goes on.
Randy Kool, western Iowa agronomic service representative with Syngenta, reflects on the 2020 growing season. “Diseases were fairly light, but did come in early,” Kool recalls.
?Around mid-July, we were finding good infestations of Gray leaf spot. (At) the same time, Iowa State put out pictures of Tar spot around the Des Moines area. We also had a bit of Northern corn leaf blight during the season,” Kool says. “Coming in early gives them a long time to develop in the corn plant and do more damage.?
Syngenta achieved great success with their newer fungicide, Miravis Neo. Kool says, “Staying on top of disease is key.”
“One of the main products we’re using this year is the Miravis Neo fungicide,” Kool says. “Miravis Neo offers superior disease control and plant health benefits that keep the plant greener longer. It also gives you higher yield potential and return on investment.”
Miravis Neo contains three active ingredients, which offer preventative and curative control of key diseases.
It is hard to tell what next year might bring. However, “Diseases can explode at any time,” says Kool. He recommends scouting and being prepared.
“Most active ingredients in fungicides work very well with the preventative side. We want to get fungicides on early. We also have the curative side, if the disease gets started in that plant. We like to get on the early side for that preventative part of it,” Kool says.
