Many winter barley crops, which would normally be on a three-spray programme, may have missed their first fungicide and will move to a two-spray programme.

The majority of spring barley crops across the country have yet to be planted.

Choosing effective disease control programmes that are cost-effective will be essential this season. Consult with your agronomist on the best options for your situation.

Winter barley crops are extremely variable across the country and within fields, so disease control programmes may need to be very different within farms with lower and higher spends on different crops.

In last week’s Crop Protection magazine, Dr Tom McCabe of UCD spoke about the importance of mixtures for effective disease control and resistance management, so whatever the product or products, make sure there is a mix of chemistry.

There are a number of pre-mixed products available on the market. Newer chemistry will be needed at the T2 timing or in this difficult season, when the main fungicide application is needed.

There are no new breakthroughs in active ingredients this year. Adepidyn and Iblon technology, coming from Syngenta and Bayer, respectively, are still in the development and registration phases and will hopefully make it to Ireland in the coming seasons.

In recent years, Inatreq and Revysol fungicides have come from Corteva and BASF, respectively. Minding this new technology is very important. This includes alternating and mixing different chemistry when treating crops.

While there are no new active ingredients on the market, there are new product mixes, which can play important roles in disease control programmes. Revymaxx is one of those mixes.

Revymaxx

Revymaxx is a new barley product to the market. Revymaxx barley pack is a mix of three well-known products – F500, Xemium and Revysol. It goes to the market as Balaya + Imperis and there are two cans in the pack, one 5l can of Balaya and one 5l can of Imperis.

Consult with your agronomist on appropriate rates at the time of application

Revysol is the triazole in the mix claiming good control of ramularia. Xemium has the SDHI fluxapyroxad which will tackle rhynchosporium and F500 is a strobilurin-based product which contains pyraclostrobin to control net blotch.

One litre per hectare from each product means the pack will cover 5ha or 12.5ac on barley.

Consult with your agronomist on appropriate rates at the time of application.

The product fits in well to the T2 timing on spring or winter barley. The barley pack has label advice for barley, oats, rye and triticale. Imperis, which is one of the products in the pack, also has a label for wheat.