Input decisions are tough. They’re not always fun. And they can impact your year-end results. So it’s sensible to make sound, educated decisions when considering new fungicide treatments for your operation.
For growers like you, you’re in luck. Most products have loads of information available about their effectiveness, when they can be applied and how much they can improve your crops. But you’re not alone in wondering – which ones work? Better yet, which ones are going to work for you?
This is where a fundamental trial using a smaller volume of fungicide can help assist you in your decision-making, increasing your chances at success during harvest for years to come. With a little planning and some forethought, you can find out exactly how well a product works and if it will benefit your operation on a larger scale.
“Growers can discover valuable information through independent trial applications on their own farms,” said Randy Myers, Product Development Manager for Bayer. “Every grower’s situation is a little different, so running fungicide trials on your operation is valuable to determine what crop protection solutions are most effective, which improve your ROI and increase overall efficiency.”
Myers tells growers to make sure they’re getting the right information out of their trials and to set up a goal or outline for what they’re trying to test. If it’s comparing your current fungicide to a different product like Stratego® YLD, then you must structure the trial to accurately compare the two.
“You need to always be testing
and looking for effective disease
management solutions...”
- Randy Myers
“You need to always be testing and looking for effective disease management solutions,” said Myers. “Many times, growers are facing disease pressures that are limiting their yield potential without even knowing it. Running a trial with a unique product like Stratego YLD might really benefit your operation.”
University studies have shown that spraying Stratego YLD on soybeans boosts yields by 3 to 4 bu/A on average, but many times an independent trial can help assure you that results on your operation will be similar.
To ensure your trial is free from error so you can easily determine if a product is for you, making a plan is essential. In a report by Successful Farming, Richard Davis, a USDA-ARS Research Plant Pathologist, explained that there are some necessities in running a successful trial. Some of those things to keep in mind are:
- Choose a goal: Determine what you’re trying to accomplish well before setting up the trial.
- Decide on a treatment: Choose the product you want to test on your farm.
- Include a control: Ensure you are making a true side-by-side comparison.
Davis advises that growers have both negative and positive controls. This means that each trial should include a new treatment, an old treatment and an untreated strip. For complete details on how to set up a proper fungicide trial that includes application management and data gathering, read the full article from Successful Farming.
Learn more about disease control and yield advantages: