Soft fruit agronomist, Neil Holmes, discusses Spring foliar applications to support soft fruit plant health.<\/p>\n
With recent improvements in both temperature and light levels, strawberry crops are in flower at the earliest forced sites.<\/p>\n
Open flower is a susceptible time for plants as it permits the entry of Botrytis spores. High humidity conditions created by warm days under tunnels followed by cool nights, creates conditions conducive to powdery mildew development especially for over wintered crops.<\/p>\n
Zynergy<\/strong> <\/a>provides easily absorbed copper, zinc and sulphur to the crop. Copper is a component of phenolic compounds produced by the plant in response to a pathogen.\u00a0 Zinc is an essential nutrient required for the plant\u2019s own immune system to function optimally (Cabot et al<\/em>., 2019).<\/p>\n Zynergy<\/a> should be applied preventatively, as a spring foliar application, to support plant health at a rate of 0.5L\/ha, with a suitable adjuvant such as NA13<\/strong> <\/a>at 0.1% of spray volume if it is being applied as a solo application.\u00a0 If applying Zynergy<\/a> with a plant protection product (PPP), then the NA13<\/a> can be omitted from the spray application.<\/p>\n Sulphomex<\/strong><\/a> is a combination of ammonium nitrogen and sulphur. Nitrogen is used for protein synthesis to support the onward growth of the crop and sulphur compounds are directly or indirectly involved in biotic and abiotic stress management, metabolism, and signalling. One such sulphur compound which exhibits these responses is the tripeptide glutathione which supports antioxidant defence and allows the normal physiological functioning of the plant (Hasanuzzaman et al<\/em>., 2017).<\/p>\n