Rust Rampage?

Fungicide Update

Last year, growers had six fungicides registered for use against rust, and another 11 had provisional Section 18 approvals in selected states.

This year's final list of approved fungicides are available on the EPA Web site later this spring: www.epa.gov/oppfead1/cb/csb_page/updates/soybean_rust.htm. Additional state Section 18 labels are available on state departments of agriculture Web sites.

One new rust fungicide in 2007 is Topguard, from Cheminova. With a triazole called flutriafol as its active ingredient, “it showed long residual activity in our University of Florida trials,” says Jim Marois, University of Florida professor of plant pathology. Topguard has Section 18 approvals in South Dakota and Minnesota.