# Fungicides on alfalfa



## FarmerCline (Oct 12, 2011)

My alfalfa took leaf spot disease right after first cutting and never grew out of it.....the leaves were falling off as quick as they were growing new ones. I was finally able to cut what there was of second cut last week. Just went and looked at the 3 inch tall regrowth and it already has leaf spot disease again.

I did some research and it appears that Headline is the fungicide of choice for alfalfa. Has anyone ever used Headline or another fungicide on alfalfa? Correct me if I'm wrong but I thought that fungicides were a preventative spray and would not help if the disease is already on the plant? If that is the case is it going to do any good to spray since it already has the leaf spot disease again? I'm hoping that isn't the case since I cannot afford to have another poor cutting of alfalfa.

Hayden


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## Vol (Jul 5, 2009)

Sometimes fungicides can stop the disease from spreading...sometimes they are useless once a plant is infected. I would spray it and watch the new growth to determine how this particular bout of disease is responding to treatment.

Regards, Mike

http://www.progressiveforage.com/images/downloads/2017/03/0317PF-disease-1.pdf


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## FarmerCline (Oct 12, 2011)

Vol said:


> Sometimes fungicides can stop the disease from spreading...sometimes they are useless once a plant is infected. I would spray it and watch the new growth to determine how this particular bout of disease is responding to treatment.
> 
> Regards, Mike
> 
> http://www.progressiveforage.com/images/downloads/2017/03/0317PF-disease-1.pdf


 I will go ahead and plan on spraying and hope for the best. This Headline sure is expensive stuff.....$600 for 2.5 gallons.....at 9oz. an acre that is over $18 an acre! Expensive stuff to experiment with. Any idea of how much regrowth I should let it get before spraying? Only a few inches tall right now and from what I understand the fungicide will only protect what it touches and not any new growth.


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## Vol (Jul 5, 2009)

Probably 6"-8".....from reading some fungicide studies this was the height treated in several different trials.

Regards, Mike


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## endrow (Dec 15, 2011)

All the data I've ever read on fungicides on Alfalfa showed very little return, . Penn State shared some of that data that you reading these magazines and if you look at it most of the time to fungicides was applied with an insecticide and if the people show inclusive data you'll find most of the time when they skip the insecticide and applied fungicides only on Alfalfa very little return. I sprayed it once it had better color and dry down slower but maybe that's just me. Anyway when you try to keep us posted


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