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44 POTATO GROWER | SEPTEMBER 2017 Diggin' In Diggin' In Diggin' In Diggin' In Diggin' In Diggin' In FUNGICIDES | By Matt Ehlers, Syngenta Syngenta's combines two active ingredients to fi ght late blight Double-Barreled Protection Brian Zens fully expected to have a Texas- sized, late blight rumble on his hands during the 2016 potato-growing season. Instead, armed with Syngenta's Orondis Opti fungicide, his advance preparation led to 100 percent prevention. "Given the weather patterns we saw in 2016, I would've bet money that we would've picked up late blight," says Zens, who is the director of agronomy for CSS Farms and helps oversee 4,000 acres of chip potatoes near Dalhart, Texas. "But we stuck to our program and relied on Orondis Opti. We never saw late blight in the field." DYNAMIC DUO New to the retail market in 2016, Orondis Opti combines two fungicides, Orondis and Bravo, into a double-barreled disease fighter that beats back late blight in potatoes and downy mildew in cucurbit vegetables. Offered as a multipack during its first year of use, Orondis Opti is now available as a pre-mix formulation, starting with the 2017 season. "It combines the best of both in one mixture," says Kiran Shetty, technical development lead at Syngenta, North America. The latest active ingredient from Syngenta, Orondis' oxathiapiprolin, makes for a dynamic pairing with Bravo's chlorothalonil, a trusted performer. "Orondis fits into an already established program." Oxathiapiprolin has a novel, single-site mode of action and is the only fungicide active ingredient in Fungicide Resistance Action Committee (FRAC) Group 49. Chlorothalonil is a multi-site inhibitor with low resistance risk. "They work extremely well in concert," Shetty says. A STEP AHEAD Although he battles a host of diseases at farms in different states, Zens had never encountered late blight in his Dalhart fields. CSS Farms had grown potatoes in the area for about 15 years and, due to the fields' relative isolation, had managed to avoid late blight the entire time. That environment began to change in recent years, as newer farms set up shop nearby. In 2015, a neighboring potato farm "New modes of action are critically important when fi ghting diseases." Wilson Faircloth, Syngenta agronomic service representative Brian Zens credits Orondis Opti with the complete lack of late blight symptoms in his potato fi elds in 2016.