Ipsens avoid blisters at Manjimup
About
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Category
- Grower Stories
- Video
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Date
22 April, 2021
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Location
Western Australia
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About
Category
- Grower Stories
- Video
Date
22 April, 2021
Location
Western Australia
Western Australian broccoli grower Brad Ipsen knows only too well the dangers of rainfall, high levels of cloud cover and humidity and, hence, the need for a good spray management program to safeguard his crops.
These very conditions presented at the family’s property near Manjimup in the State’s South West during the latest broccoli season.
Broccoli forms the major component of the Ipsen’s enterprise at their ‘Twin Lakes’ farms, while they also have a citrus orchard and run 5500 ewes and some cattle.
Weekly plantings of about 140,000 broccoli seedlings over 3 hectares commence towards the end of August and continue through until the end of February, covering a total of about 120 ha over a seven to eight-month season from spring to autumn. Utilising pastures and sheep, areas are cropped only every five to seven years.
Their produce finds a home at wholesale markets and direct to supermarkets in WA and on the east coast, and is also exported, although escalating freight costs have limited this the past year.
Image: Ian Cook, Brad Ipsen and Brad Giles sample the freshly cut Twin Lakes produce.
The region sits in an 850-millimetre rainfall zone and even though this can vary by 150 mm – generally downward in recent times – it can cause high disease pressure, particularly when humidity levels are higher during December and January.
“If we start getting cyclone cloud from the North West, high humidity and high temperatures, and because our plant density is around 47,000 plants/ha, that lends itself to high foliage mass and can lead to high disease pressure,’’ Brad said.
He said white blister, causing tiny white flowers on the heads that also reduce yield, was one of the major diseases they guard against, as well as soft rot, while downy mildew also can be an issue.
“If unchecked, white blister can be very devastating and wipe out a whole planting. You need eight hours of leaf wetness and minimum 16-degree temperature – if you get those things together, you have got the right conditions for it.’’
Image: Bayer Territory Business Manager Ian Cook and EE Muir & Sons Regional Manager Brad Giles pictured discussing disease management in broccoli at the Ipsen family’s property near Manjimup in WA’s South West.
Brad said to assist disease management, from December to February they looked for planting sites with more wind for natural drying of crops and they used to alter plant density slightly, but this did not provide any significant benefit.
“We generally have a Bordeaux type climate with warm days and cool nights and this can help a bit, but you need to have a good spray program in place.’’
“We base our program around the use of Ridomil Gold® Plus, but the use of Infinito® has allowed us to come into crops with fungicide late.
“If you use Ridomil too late in the crop, it can change the colour in the head from green to brown, which is not attractive when you sell on appearance. If conditions are good, we also won’t always use Ridomil. We will use something that’s better tolerated by the crop.’’
Infinito®, from Bayer, combines two active ingredients with different modes of action, providing excellent control of white blister and downy mildew at all key stages of their lifecycle and offering an in-built resistance management solution for growers.
The liquid, suspension concentrate formulation is quickly rainfast, highly systemic with strong translaminar activity and, importantly, has no withholding period.
“I always like liquid formulations – they are better to put through the boom. It is an easy liquid to measure and it pours well. Some liquids don’t stay in solution very well; they precipitate out, but this stays in solution very well,’’ Brad said.
“I love the fact it has no withholding period in broccoli, is effective and so allows disease control late in the crop – its fit in our program works well. Some other fungicides have three and out to 14-day withholding periods.
“Another thing I like about it is that it’s pretty compatible in a tank mix, so I can use it with a range of other products. It doesn’t seem to interfere with anything else I want to put in.’’
He said disease resistance was always an ongoing concern, but perhaps less of a concern compared with east coast growers who produce crops year-round.
The Ipsens use a UK-manufactured, 24-metre Househam specialist vegetable sprayer with an air boom, applying Infinito several times according to conditions at 1.6 L/ha with an adjuvant to enhance adherance to plants and a typical water rate of 750 L/ha.
“The sprayer has a big fan and a huge wind sock. When you turn the wind up full bore, it can make the leaves roll. Once you tip the leaves around, you can push the fungicide right into them,’’ Brad said.
“White blister is pretty tricky because it hides not on the top of the leaf, but on the underside of the leaf. Most insects or fungi are on the bottom side of the leaf, so to get good control, you need to use a high volume of air to roll the crop around and coat the underside of the leaf.’’
He said he was satisfied with the management of white blister using Infinito.
“We’ll keep using it. It’s effective, easy to use, cost-effective and it’s repeatable and reliable. And that’s a good thing – I know I can trust it.’’
Brad said to assist disease management, from December to February they looked for planting sites with more wind for natural drying of crops and they used to alter plant density slightly, but this did not provide any significant benefit.
“We generally have a Bordeaux type climate with warm days and cool nights and this can help a bit, but you need to have a good spray program in place.’’
“We base our program around the use of Ridomil Gold® Plus, but the use of Infinito® has allowed us to come into crops with fungicide late.
“If you use Ridomil too late in the crop, it can change the colour in the head from green to brown, which is not attractive when you sell on appearance. If conditions are good, we also won’t always use Ridomil. We will use something that’s better tolerated by the crop.’’
Infinito®, from Bayer, combines two active ingredients with different modes of action, providing excellent control of white blister and downy mildew at all key stages of their lifecycle and offering an in-built resistance management solution for growers.
The liquid, suspension concentrate formulation is quickly rainfast, highly systemic with strong translaminar activity and, importantly, has no withholding period.
“I always like liquid formulations – they are better to put through the boom. It is an easy liquid to measure and it pours well. Some liquids don’t stay in solution very well; they precipitate out, but this stays in solution very well,’’ Brad said.
“I love the fact it has no withholding period in broccoli, is effective and so allows disease control late in the crop – its fit in our program works well. Some other fungicides have three and out to 14-day withholding periods.
“Another thing I like about it is that it’s pretty compatible in a tank mix, so I can use it with a range of other products. It doesn’t seem to interfere with anything else I want to put in.’’
He said disease resistance was always an ongoing concern, but perhaps less of a concern compared with east coast growers who produce crops year-round.
The Ipsens use a UK-manufactured, 24-metre Househam specialist vegetable sprayer with an air boom, applying Infinito several times according to conditions at 1.6 L/ha with an adjuvant to enhance adherance to plants and a typical water rate of 750 L/ha.
“The sprayer has a big fan and a huge wind sock. When you turn the wind up full bore, it can make the leaves roll. Once you tip the leaves around, you can push the fungicide right into them,’’ Brad said.
“White blister is pretty tricky because it hides not on the top of the leaf, but on the underside of the leaf. Most insects or fungi are on the bottom side of the leaf, so to get good control, you need to use a high volume of air to roll the crop around and coat the underside of the leaf.’’
He said he was satisfied with the management of white blister using Infinito.
“We’ll keep using it. It’s effective, easy to use, cost-effective and it’s repeatable and reliable. And that’s a good thing – I know I can trust it.’’
The Ipsens also use several other products from Bayer, including Movento®, which Brad said he used with various tank mixes in crops.
“I really love Movento for its two-way translocation throughout the plant.’’
“I know it works so well, because when I didn’t use it one time the outcome was very poor – I was like ‘what happened there; what’s the difference?’ And leaving out Movento always ends up the same way.’’
Brad has a close relationship with EE Muir & Sons Regional Manager Brad Giles as a primary source of crop input information.
“I suppose he’s my defacto agronomist in a funny way, because he’s seen a lot of product from different companies and hears a lot of feedback about them and the results people are having,’’ he said.
Brad Giles said depending on conditions from spring, white blister can cause problems from Perth to Manjimup and be particularly costly with how quickly it can spread.
He said Infinito had found a really strong fit in programs in combination with older fungicides still on the market, particularly for later crop stages.
“When crops are high and lush, Infinito is perfect to use at that time. Activity from other products at that stage just isn’t up to where Infinito is at the moment,’’ Brad said.
“It has the two actives, very good crop safety with no damage or colouring of the heads and, being translaminar as well, it has a really good effect. It stops blister in its tracks and its cost/ha stacks up. It’s well within the ballpark of other products on the market, so it’s a no-brainer.’’
He said an ideal fungicide program for white blister could include use of older products or multi-site fungicides during early crop stages, and later turning to Infinito during peak periods and when conditions were conducive to disease.
“I really love Movento for its two-way translocation throughout the plant.’’
“I know it works so well, because when I didn’t use it one time the outcome was very poor – I was like ‘what happened there; what’s the difference?’ And leaving out Movento always ends up the same way.’’
Brad has a close relationship with EE Muir & Sons Regional Manager Brad Giles as a primary source of crop input information.
“I suppose he’s my defacto agronomist in a funny way, because he’s seen a lot of product from different companies and hears a lot of feedback about them and the results people are having,’’ he said.
Brad Giles said depending on conditions from spring, white blister can cause problems from Perth to Manjimup and be particularly costly with how quickly it can spread.
He said Infinito had found a really strong fit in programs in combination with older fungicides still on the market, particularly for later crop stages.
“When crops are high and lush, Infinito is perfect to use at that time. Activity from other products at that stage just isn’t up to where Infinito is at the moment,’’ Brad said.
“It has the two actives, very good crop safety with no damage or colouring of the heads and, being translaminar as well, it has a really good effect. It stops blister in its tracks and its cost/ha stacks up. It’s well within the ballpark of other products on the market, so it’s a no-brainer.’’
He said an ideal fungicide program for white blister could include use of older products or multi-site fungicides during early crop stages, and later turning to Infinito during peak periods and when conditions were conducive to disease.
About
Category
- Grower Stories
- Video
Date
22 April, 2021
Location
Western Australia
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