You probably already know water quality can impact the performance of crop protection products, including fungicides. But do you take your aerial applicator the water needed for the application? World champion corn grower David Hula does.
“We take a load, either in shuttles, a tanker load or truck to the airport, and then the applicator is pulling out of that,” says Hula, who bought a 12,000-gallon tank for this purpose.
“The only thing our applicator does is add the crop protection portion to the water. Right now, that’s fungicide and insecticide, and I don’t want to leave those products in the tank very long [because they start to degrade],” he says.
The Crop Protection Network advises using fungicides soon after the agitation process, as product efficacy can start to decline soon after mixing. The Network adds that poor water quality can reduce fungicide performance and that of other crop protection products, too.
Control All The Controllables
Hula and Randy Dowdy, business partners in Total Acre, routinely tell the farmers they work with to know and use what the product labels recommend. That includes knowing what pH is needed in their water or carrier of choice.
“Ask your supplier and your sales representative what the carrier pH needs to be for maximum efficacy,” advises Dowdy, a national corn and soybean yield champion based in Valdosta, Ga.
“Most farmers don’t know what the pH is in their own water source,” Dowdy adds. “They certainly don’t know what the crop duster or the helicopter or drone is spraying and what their carrier pH is. It can be mind-blowing how ineffective a fungicide can be when it’s put in the wrong environment where the water pH is not correct.”
The ideal water pH for fungicide mixing is approximately 7.0, according to the Crop Protection Network . Fungicidal activity can be reduced if mixed with water with a pH that is too high (alkaline) or too low (acidic).
Acidic water is of particular concern. If the pH is greater than 8.0, the CPN advises using a pH buffer to correct unfavorable pH levels, adding the buffer to the tank before the fungicide.
It’s All About ROI
Hula focuses his efforts on the return-on-investment, always important and especially critical to corn growers this season.
“If you’re going to spend $15 to $20 an acre on a fungicide or other pesticide, I want it to work,” says Hula, who farms near Charles City, Va. “I don’t want to just be paying the applicator.
“I need to control all the controllables,” he adds. “I’m not making the application, but I’m going to make sure what goes in that tank on the plane is going to be right, so when that product works we get full benefit from it.”
Hula says Virginia corn growers routinely use fungicides to address issues including common and southern rust, anthracnose, northern and southern leaf blight and gray leaf spot.
“Those are some of our bigger issues in corn, but so far we haven’t had to deal with tar spot,” he says. “It’s not a matter of will we use a fungicide here in the South, it’s more of a question of how many applications we’ll need.”
Add Products To The Tank In Correct Order
If you’re including more than one product in the tank, consider whether the combination is compatible. In addition, make sure you add multiple products to the spray tank in the correct order.
The order CPN recommends follows:
1. Compatibility, buffering, or defoaming agents,
2. Wettable powders (WP) and dry flowables (DF),
3. Water-soluble concentrates (WSC or SC),
4. Emulsifiable concentrates (EC),
5. Soluble powders (SP), and finally,
6. Adjuvants or spray additives.
For more insights from Dowdy and Hula on getting the best ROI from your product applications, check out their Breaking Barriers with R&D podcast. Watch the latest episode here on Farm Journal TV or on YouTube.
The two yield champs challenge farmers to think differently to improve their corn and soybean performance. While known for growing record-breaking corn and soybean yields, their primary focus is maximizing profits on every acre.
You can also catch their latest discussion on AgriTalk with Host Chip Flory here:
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