Fungicides for corn and soybeans a decade ago were a pretty remote market. Back then, farmers mainly applied them to fruits and vegetables.

That’s changed. Fungicides have been mainstreamed into corn and soybean markets. Here’s a look at some of the new fungicide products for the corn and soybean market coming for this year and beyond.

MANA is introducing Incognito 4.5F fungicide for 2011 for crops including soybeans. Incognito controls soybean diseases including white mold.

White mold sclerotia can survive in soybean fields for a number of years. Still, cool temperatures, wet conditions, and good soil moisture are needed for the sclerotia to produce apothecia. These are mushroom-like structures of the fungus that produce airborne ascospores that infect the flowers of soybeans.

Since white mold attacks soybeans at flowering, it’s recommended farmers apply Incognito at R1 (beginning flowering), says Dave Feist, MANA northern development and technical manager. This protects the blooms for a critical two-week period if the cool and wet conditions conducive to white mold occur. The fungicide is part of a white mold control strategy that includes multi-year crop rotation, planting disease-tolerant varieties, deep tillage and wide row spacing.