North Dakota ag commissioner approves fungicide to manage disease in long-season potatoes

Agriculture Commissioner Doug Goehring has issued a Special Local Needs (SLN) registration to Winfield Solutions LLC enabling North Dakota potato producers to manage disease in long-season potatoes with Praiz™ fungicide.

The LLC has requested a new SLN registration for Praiz to provide potato growers another option when choosing products to control disease in long-season potato varieties grown under irrigation. Syngenta’s Bravo Weather Stik® and Bravo® ZN fungicides have previously been granted SLN registrations for use on long-season potatoes.

“Late blight can be one of the most troublesome diseases for potato producers,” Goehring said. “Left uncontrolled, it can cause significant yield losses.”

Currently Praiz use rates cannot exceed a total of 11.25 pounds active ingredient per acre per season and growers may not be able to manage blight late in the season in irrigated, long-season potato varieties. The SLN labeling allows a maximum seasonal application rate of 16 pounds active ingredient per acre which will allow more applications, later into the growing season.

Users must comply with all restrictions, precautions, and the directions found in the SLN labeling, and a copy of the labeling must be in the user’s possession at the time of application.

This SLN registration is effective immediately and expires Jan. 1, 2019.

Section 24(c) of the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act gives states the authority to register additional uses for federally registered pesticide products, or new products to meet special local needs.