UK extended Bayer's fungicide Infinito to leek and salad onion

Date:07-13-2016

The UK Chemicals Regulation Directorate (CRD) has issued an EAMU (extension of authorisation for minor use) permitting use of Bayer's fungicide Infinito (fluopicolide + propamocarb) on an extended range of allium crops.

The previous EAMU was solely for the use of Infinito to control downy mildew on bulb onion, but this has now been extended to use on salad onion, shallot, garlic and leek, and for the control of white tip in leek.

AB Agronomy's Andy Richardson says Infinito has proved useful in bulb onion programmes alongside Unicur (fluoxastrobin + prothioconazole).

"Growers struggle with white tip in leeks and last winter it was unusually severe in bulb onions too due to the exceptionally mild and wet conditions," he said.

"Prior to this EAMU leek growers only had two products available, so adding Infinito to their armoury is a big help. For salad onion growers it's very exciting as downy mildew options have previously been very limited. It's a frustration though that the new EAMU only allows one application per crop."

The authorisation specifies a maximum individual dose of 1.6L/ha with the latest time of application depending on the crop: seven days before harvest for bulb onion, garlic and shallot and 14 days before harvest for leek and salad. It should be applied using conventional hydraulic spray equipment in a minimum water volume of 200L of water per hectare.

Two conditions of use to note that may have rotational implications are that to protect groundwater, Infinito or any other fungicide containing fluopicolide must not be applied at a rate of more than 400g/ha in any three-year period, and a maximum of one application per year to the same area of land must not be exceeded.