‘Life after iprodione’ to be a hot topic at BTME

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‘Life after iprodione’ is a major focus at BTME for the Bayer Turf Solutions Team, due to an influx of queries from greenkeepers following the news of its withdrawal late last year.

Iprodione, the active ingredient in Chipco® Green and Interface®, was officially withdrawn from the market in November 2017. The sale of the product is permitted until March 2018, and greenkeepers then have a further three months to 5 June 2018 to use up all stocks.

Bayer will be running a series of ‘Tech-Talks’ in Hall A on stand A46, to explain what the future of turf pest and disease management will look like as the industry loses this steadfast chemistry. Dr Colin Mumford will also give a dedicated seminar on Wednesday 24 January at 10:00 in the Queen’s Suite.

BASIS points will be available for attending both the ‘Tech-Talks’ and the seminar.

Neil Pettican, Bayer head of sales for turf and amenity, explains that although a valuable active ingredient is leaving the market, innovation is ongoing, and the organisation is working hard to develop new products, both now and into the future.

“We introduced Exteris® Stressgard® to the UK market in January 2017. Not only was this a new active ingredient (AI), but a whole new chemical group, aiding resistance management,” says Neil.

“With the loss of products, the message is clear: the future of disease control is preventative, not curative, and greenkeepers need to change their approach, with resistance management being key to this strategy,” he adds.

To help understand disease prevention, plinths will be displayed on the Bayer stand to showcase the five stages of Microdochium Patch development.

Neil explains that resistance management is important but is an area that is often not fully understood and can be confusing with its complicated science phrases.

“So, the tech talks are a great “bite-size” learning opportunity to explain some of the technical terms with an interactive approach.”

And as take-home references, the new Microdochium Patch guide – a must have document in any greenkeepers’ reference library – will be available to pick up free of charge, and the updated TurfXpert App, which is free to download, will be on show.

Stand: A46

For further information visit www.environmentalscience.bayer.co.uk or call the Bayer Turf Solutions team – 0800 1214 9451 or 01223 226500 or email turfsolutions@bayer.com