Yield results are in: Using fungicide with starter fertilizer makes dollars and sense. Yes, you read that right. Fungicide and starter fertilizer mixed and applied together make potato production more profitable. How? Nanotechnology.
In 2017 trials, an application of AZteroid FC fungicide with starter fertilizer increased potato yield by 24 hundredweight per acre compared to fertilizer alone.
“Of course, yield is important,” says Darren Anderson, president of Vive Crop Protection. “But in every trial, producers found increased marketable yield—more uniform sizing and more potatoes—in that 6- to 8-ounce sweet spot.”
Until recently, mixing fungicide with starter fertilizer was simply not done because the two products weren’t compatible, leading to “cottage cheese” in the application tank and clogged nozzles. The use of nanotechnology from Vive Crop Protection makes AZteroid FC (azoxystrobin) the first fungicide to mix easily and stay in suspension for days instead of minutes or hours, helping growers who may experience delays due to weather or other circumstances. AZteroid FC contains the same active ingredient as Quadris fungicide, but the nanotechnology “shuttle” that carries the active ingredient keeps it in suspension until it reaches the soil, where the fungicide is released. AZteroid FC controls black dot, silver scurf and black scurf in potatoes.
This delivery system is also available in Vive’s Bifender FC insecticide (bifenthrin), enabling potato growers to control in-ground pests like rootworms and wireworms in the same pass as planting and starter fertilizer.