Damon Smith, Extension Field Crops Plant Pathologist
Fungicides have become a major component of plant disease management plans for agronomic crops. Fungicides are applied to prevent or slow epidemics of disease caused by fungi. Unlike insecticides and herbicides, which are used to kill insects and weeds, fungicides are applied to form a barrier to protect plant organs from infection. Performance of fungicide products can be affected by many factors including timing of application, off-label rates, poor product choice for the pathogen of concern (e.g. active ingredient is not effective against the organism), fungicide resistance, etc.
In order to better understand how fungicides should be used in field crops, visit the new webpage at http://fyi.uwex.edu/fieldcroppathology/field-crops-fungicide-information/. The webpage covers many of the aspects of using fungicides and also includes fungicide efficacy tables for corn, soybean, and small grains.