A new, colourless liquid treatment for potato seed pieces has been cleared for use against diseases such as fusarium and silver scurf and pests such as Colorado potato beetles and aphids.
Syngenta Canada on Dec. 18 announced registration for its Cruiser Maxx D Potato seed piece treatment, which it said it expects to have "widely available" for the 2013 growing season.
The new product combines the Group 12 fungicide fludioxonil, Group 3 fungicide difenoconazole and Group 4 insecticide thiamethoxam in a colourless treatment, which the company said will cut out any risk of colourant transferring from the mother to the daughter tubers.
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Because it includes two modes of fungicide action, "managing fusarium resistance is made easier and more effective," Mitch Reid, Syngenta Canada’s seed care asset lead, said in a release.
Difenoconazole — billed as a "more potent" triazole and seen in Syngenta’s Inspire fungicide and other treatments — is combined with fludioxonil, already used in Syngenta’s Maxim line of potato seed treatments, for two modes of action against silver scurf and fusarium, including known resistant strains, the company said.
The new product is also effective against seed-borne rhizoctonia such as black scurf and stem and stolon canker, the company said.
Thiamethoxam — already used in Syngenta’s Actara 240SC insecticide and in its co-packed potato product Cruiser Maxx Potato — adds control of Colorado potato beetles, green peach aphids, buckthorn aphids, foxglove aphids and potato leafhoppers to the new product’s label.
Syngenta said it recommends using an enclosed treater for Cruiser Maxx D and its other liquid seed treatments, for a "contained environment" during application.
