The Contact Fungicide You Need
There are many fungicides available to the turfgrass manager in 2023. Selecting one fungicide over another should be not only a financial decision but also an agronomic decision. The active ingredients and the diseases controlled are the primary factors, but the FRAC group should also be considered. Premion fungicide from AMGUARD is a combination of two active ingredients in a water-based formulation that turf managers should consider for in-season applications. It contains two active ingredients and targets some of the worst diseases that superintendents face.
Premion contains active ingredients from two different FRAC groups. The first is PCNB (37.82%), which is a Group 14 multi-site mode of action contact fungicide. The second is tebuconazole (2.5%), which is a Group 3 DMI. This dual mode of action makes Premion an effective control agent for many turfgrass diseases and valuable in combatting fungicide resistance. To learn more about FRAC groups, click here.
Fungicide resistance occurs when surviving pathogens can reproduce and pass along their survivability, leading to less and less efficacy from the fungicide. It’s the same concept as when bacteria become resistant to antibiotics. One way to reduce the risk of resistance is to use combination products that contain chemistries with different FRAC codes. The Fungicide Resistance Action Committee assigns FRAC codes to group similar active ingredients together, and these codes are helpful when combining chemistries. You can learn more about combining and tank-mixing chemicals here.
Contact fungicides are commonly used by turf managers to control many turfgrass diseases. Chlorothalonil and fluazinam are two of the most commonly used foliar contact fungicides today. PCNB is a soil contact fungicide that most turf managers have only used as a snow mold fungicide. It provides excellent control in that scenario, but it also displays broad-spectrum control of in-season diseases. The PCNB in Premion, along with the Tebuconazole, has proven to be the best fungicide for the control of foliar blight and basal rot anthracnose in numerous studies. Control has been unmatched on mixed stands of bentgrass and Poa annua, especially where populations may be resistant or insensitive to other modes of action fungicides. Premion truly is a unique fungicide for controlling anthracnose and other difficult diseases.
Premion is not only an anthracnose control. The tebuconazole in Premion provides an upwardly mobile systemic DMI active ingredient with a broad spectrum of disease control as well. A late-spring or early-summer application of Premion (at a rate of 6 fl oz/1,000 sq ft) will provide preventative control of anthracnose while also having excellent activity on dollar spot, brown patch, and summer patch species of fungi—even those that have begun to develop resistance to other fungicides.
If you’ve dealt with these diseases on your golf course—and especially if you have dealt with resistance issues in the past—Premion could be the solution you need. Contact your Advanced Turf Solutions sales rep for more information about Premion, recommended use rates, and how the combination of active ingredients can help provide excellent control of many difficult-to-control diseases.
Todd Fregien
Sales Representative
