A Strong Offense: Peanut Disease Control Starts at Planting

Some peanut diseases are easier to see at harvest than in-season, but by this point the damage is already done. That’s why fighting them demands experience, field history and a strong commitment to following a plan. In fact, proactively managing soilborne and foliar diseases in peanut starts at planting.

“Even at the start of the season, a grower needs to defend against Rhizoctonia, as well as nematodes. They can give you problems even with a seed treatment,” Bayer Senior Technical Representative Keith Rucker says. “At planting, you want to consider Proline in-furrow, which will take care of Rhizoctonia or Velum® in-furrow, which will manage nematode problems and suppress some early season diseases.”

The First 40 Days

The early growth period is a critical time for managing diseases in peanuts. Growers need to plan to control diseases so the crop can get the strong start it needs. Successfully managing diseases early on can have season-long benefits that pay off at harvest.

In the first 40 days after planting, foliar diseases like leaf spot can appear. A foliar fungicide application of Proline® or Absolute® Maxx between 30 and 45 days can help reduce losses.

While early-season disease control is critical to a crop’s success, disease control efforts should continue throughout the season. Rotating fungicides and following a disease control prescription that is tailored to the pressure present in a given field can help manage disease.

Download the Bayer Peanut Rx here

Season-Long Protection

After the initial foliar fungicide application for leaf spots, growers need to begin protecting yields from soil-borne diseases, like white mold. Around 45-to-60 days after planting, an application of Propulse^® provides best-in-class control of leaf spots and white mold.

Because peanut disease is a given throughout the entire growing season, additional fungicide applications will be warranted to control leaf spots and white mold through harvest. To ensure season-long disease control, growers should consider adding Provost^® Silver, a new fungicide from Bayer, to the rotation as early as 60 days after planting for powerful, broad-spectrum disease control against yield-robbing diseases.

Provost Silver Advantages:

• Powerful Tool. At the high use rate, Provost Silver delivers nearly 80 percent more prothioconazole than Provost Opti.
• Systemic Activity. Provost Silver moves in both directions: downward on the outside of the plant to protect pegs, crowns and lower leaves, and upward systematically to protect new growth.
• Broad-Spectrum Control. Provost Silver delivers the performance growers need to control soilborne and foliar diseases, including early leaf spot, late leaf spot and white mold.
• Resistance Management. As the most efficacious DMI for key peanut diseases, Provost Silver is the tool growers need to control disease today and manage resistance for tomorrow.
• Flexible Application. Provost Silver is highly compatible with a wide variety of tankmix partners, including many insecticide, fungicide, herbicide and fertilizer products.

University research across the south demonstrates that Provost Silver protects peanut yields through powerful, broad-spectrum disease control. Compared to fields treated with chlorothalonil, Provost Silver showed a yield advantage at all four trial locations. Overall, fields treated with Provost Silver yielded 200 lb/A more on average compared to fields treated with Provost Opti and 1,600 lb/A more on average than fields treated with chlorothalonil.

Talk to your local Bayer representative or visit the product page to learn more about how Provost Silver can fit into your disease management plan to protect yields in your peanut fields.

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