MASALON - a new fight in the battle against Fusarium Patch

MASALON* - a new fight in the battle against Fusarium Patch

MASALON contains myclobutanil, a completely new active ingredient of the triazole group, which has excellent systemic properties with preventative and curative action. It acts by inhibiting the production of fungal sterols which are needed for the fungus to form its cell membranes.

"We are very excited about this new product," explains Andy Cawley, sales and marketing manager, Specialty Products of Dow AgroSciences. "As well MASALON containing a brand new active ingredient for the turf market, it is really the novel formulation that makes this product special and stands out from the rest. Being an emulsion in water formulation and only having 45 grams of myclobutanil per litre, a lot less active ingredient needs to be applied to the environment whilst still providing excellent fungal control, and excellent levels of turfgrass safety. Additionally the product has no hazard classification, so greenkeepers and groundsmen can have total peace of mind."

Environmentally, myclobutanil shows low mobility in the soil and so poses no risk to ground water. From a toxicological perspective, there are concerns that fungicides are responsible for killing important soil micro-organisms but tests have shown that MASALON, even at doses well above the maximum rate, has no effect on them. The product also has low toxicity to birds, bees, and earthworms.

"The ideal conditions to induce Fusarium Patch are high nitrogen, stressed turf due to a hot droughty summer followed by cool moist weather and low air movement," advises Mr Cawley. "Conditions in 2003 were just like that and we saw one of the worst disease levels in many years. However, our trials which were conducted in this period have shown that even in high disease situations, MASALON provides excellent levels of control on Fusarium Patch. This is why MASALON has Fusarium Patch as 'Fully Susceptible' on its label, something which is very difficult to achieve on product labels nowadays."

It is safe to all the main turf grasses including annual meadow-grass (Poa annua) which is particularly susceptible to Fusarium Patch. Greenkeepers will find this product a valuable addition to their chemical store not only because the low concentration formulation provides increased operator safety but also the easy to manage dose rate. Even with a dose rate of 8 litres per hectare, 13.5 - 41.5 doses of MASALON, in terms of grams of active ingredient applied per hectare, equate to one dose of some of the equivalent liquid turf fungicide products on the market. The dose rate of 8 litres per hectare makes it easy to measure the required amount of MASALON needed for small areas - so should be ideal for both golf greens and bowling greens alike.

"One of the best ways to manage Fusarium Patch is to apply MASALON before disease symptoms are seen. Greenkeepers should monitor their greens throughout the year especially the ones that are surrounded by trees and those which have historically shown signs of disease. At the first sign of disease all greens should then be sprayed to prevent a build-up and spread of the disease in the turf. We believe that MASALON will be an effective and economical partner in rotation with other fungicides in the fight against fungus and the provision of disease-free greens," concludes Mr Cawley.

Masalon is available now in 8 x 1 litre packs from Rigby Taylor.

*Trademark of Dow AgroSciences LLC