All septoria in Ireland has moderate resistance to SDHI chemistry, according to Teagasc researcher Steven Kildea. There has not been a change in resistance levels since 2021. He was speaking at the BASF cereal disease control conference last week.

SDHIs are the main fungicides used to control wheat and barley diseases, and Kildea said that disease control is trickier now than in the past.

“The flexibility that was there 20 years ago isn’t necessarily there anymore.”

UCD’s Tom McCabe commented that the tools for disease control are still good, but they have to be used at the right time.

He explained that fungicides no longer have good curativity. That curativity gave farmers flexibility in the past. Now if wet or windy conditions delay spraying or make for poor spraying conditions, the fungicides are not as forgiving, he added.

He said that in the past “if your timing wasn’t great, you got away with it. Now you can’t expect to get away with it”.