The Michigan Ag Today Sugarbeet Planting Report is made possible by BASF and Provysol fungicide. Be proactive and control cercospora leaf spot in your beets.
Sugarbeet growers are aware of the damage cercospora leaf spot can cause. Yield potential can be sliced by 40 percent in terms of root tonnage and sugar percentage. As if that’s not bad enough, Trevor Kraus, BASF agronomist, says that can impact the beet once it’s out of the field.
“Beets that are low in sugar don’t store that well,” he says. “You end up with more storage loss and decay—it’s a triple threat when you think about all the ways cercospora impacts the production of sugar.”
Cercospora management has changed throughout the years. Resistance developed to the strobilurin class of chemistry, leaving growers at a loss. The triazole family of chemistry was then used, but even that technology was old.
“Most of them were developed in the 80s and nothing has been done in that area for the last 20 years,” says Kraus. “BASF saw an opportunity to reinvent the DMI or triazole family of chemistry. We brought Provysol to the market for cercospora control in sugarbeets.”
Provysol’s main ingredient is different from the original triazole, but still has the same mode of action.
“The molecule has some flexibility that leads to it having higher intrinsic activity,” says Kraus. “Something that’s exciting is the active ingredient has really low water solubility, so it wants to be in the waxy part of the leaves. It stays put versus the older triazoles that tend to be water soluble and move around too much in the plant. We get longer-lasting residual control with Provysol in sugarbeets.”
Later in this season’s report, Kraus will take a deeper dive into Provysol fungicide.
