Pecan Fungicide ‘Rainfast’

With rain and humidity, we are having ideal conditions for scab. Some growers essentially continue to spray around the clock. A common question is, “How long does my fungicide need to dry before rain?” This is a question pathologists have worked on for some time, but there are many variables involved making it difficult to generate data. UGA Plant Pathologist Dr. Tim Brenneman recently offered the following suggestions based on his studies with pecan and also on similar studies he has conducted in peanut:

Highly systemic materials like phosphite must be absorbed into the plant. It may require as much as 1/2 a day for this process to take place so that the material can be highly effective. While DMIs and strobilurins or combination products like Absolute, Top Gard, Quadris Top, and Quilt have some systemic activity they are not as systemic as the phosphites. Still, they would need a little time to be effective, so several hours to half a day would be ideal. A surfactant (80/20 or other) would increase the uptake speed of these materials and would likely provide some benefit in the conditions we’ve had over the last week or so. However, do not include a surfactant with Phosphite.

While the DMIs and Strobis have some systemic activity they still function largely as protectants. Other materials like Dodine (ELast) or Tin are pure protectants. These materials (Dodine and Tin) would be the most prone to wash off when rain arrives shortly after spraying. Dodine does adhere tightly to the plant cuticle, which likely helps it. Rainfall that occurs less than one hour after spraying makes the fungicide pretty well ineffective. Any rainfall within 24 hrs after spraying with a pure protectant will likely reduce the effectiveness of control to some extent. For each additional hour between the spraying and rainfall you gain additional control.

Ideally, all fungicides should be applied prior to rain events. If circumstances prevent you from getting a spray on in time and you have to spray after a rain event, the DMI/Strobi combinations would be the best choice.