Wheat School: Is the Double Nozzle a Must for Fusarium Control?

by

Fusarium head blight, or tombstone blight, is slowly moving west, and growers in regions not traditionally accustomed to fusarium are beginning to see premature bleaching/blighting of wheat heads and shriveled seeds caused by the pathogen.

Fusarium doesn’t just affect the grade and yield of a wheat field, it may also contaminate wheat kernels with mycotoxins that are poisonous to livestock and humans above certain levels.  Well, we can practice methods of Integrated Pest Management for fusarium, but this doesn’t mean it won’t show up. Farmers who scout to find fields with heavy disease pressure may decide to apply an in-crop fungicide as well. The tough part about fusarium control is that it’s the head and kernels that must be covered by the fungicide — this makes for a tall, thin target not easily covered fully by conventional nozzles.

You may have heard a lot about the benefit of using double nozzles in fungicide application, but not everyone has this option, and with a tight application window, you may find yourself in a bit of a pickle. Ordering nozzles could take a few days – time you don’t have.

In this video, Tom Wolf, spray application specialist, discusses the reasoning behind the quick adoption of double nozzles, asymmetric nozzles, and tips to make single nozzles do the trick.

If you cannot see the embedded video, click here.

Wake up with RealAgriculture

Subscribe to our daily newsletters to keep you up-to-date with our latest coverage every morning.

Wake up with RealAgriculture

Other Episodes

Wheat School (view all)Season 4 (2013) Episode 14
Episodes:

Please register to read and comment.

 

Register for a RealAgriculture account to manage your Shortcut menu instead of the default.

Register