Whenever commodity prices go up, it is important to take another look at things you passed on in prior years because the ROI just wasn’t there. With $12 new crop soybeans, there are a few things we expect to see more usage of this year, including fungicides.

Diseases start well before you see visual symptoms in plants, and fungicides are far better at preventing disease than curing it, so always spray earlier rather than later. Unfortunately, you can’t walk out into your field and say, “I have lots of disease out here, I’ll go spray a fungicide and preserve 100% of my yield.” Much of the yield damage is already done by the time you see the disease. However, if you do spray early, the good news is most fungicides will give you two to three weeks’ residual suppression of diseases. The bad news is foliar fungicides are not very systemic in the plant, so spray coverage is critical, and any new leaves that emerge are almost completely unprotected.

To help you navigate through the many choices you have, here are my best fungicide suggestions for each of the four most popular spray timings in soybeans.

R1 (first flower):

If you are concerned about sclerotinia white mold or SDS (sudden death syndrome), you will want to spray as soon as you start seeing flowers on your soybeans. Fortix (active ingredients from Evito + TopGuard) is the only product labeled for SDS suppression, and it’s dirt cheap this year at just over $7 for the full rate. If you are after white mold, Endura is best, but it is $30 per acre, so we usually suggest spot-spraying that on the worst 10% of your farm. Personally, I like mixing Topsin (or the generic Talaris) and Domark (or Andiamo). That gives you two modes of action, and even at the full rates of both, you will only spend a little over $10. You could also use Proline at a full rate for $8 to $16 depending on your level of Bayer Plus rebate.

R2 (full flower):

If you only want to do one application for general diseases, we like late R2 or early R3. Here are the five best options I’ve got for you going from most expensive (net) to least expensive.

  • Miravis Neo. The full rate is around $16. This is a combination of Quadris, Tilt, and Saltro, so it has three modes of action. Miravis Neo effectively replaces Trivapro, which also has three modes, as we prefer the SDHI component (Saltro) in Miravis Neo to the SDHI found in Trivapro. Both Miravis Neo and Trivapro contain Quadris and Tilt.
  • Revytek. The full rate is around $15. This is BASF’s new pride and joy, three-mode-of-action fungicide. It contains Headline and Xemium (the two components found in Priaxor) plus the new triazole, Revysol. Revysol is supposed to have a little broader disease spectrum, last longer, be faster-acting, and have stronger disease activity compared to the older triazoles on the market. We have seen good results with this product so far, and you can check out revxfield.com if you want to see hundreds of on-farm trials with Revytek.
  • Delaro Complete. Depending on your level in the Bayer Plus rebate program, this will run $12 to $17 for the full rate. This is also a three-mode-of-action fungicide, as it contains Gem (strobilurin), Proline (triazole), and an SDHI called fluopyram. While Stratego YLD is still very popular and less expensive, we expect many people to go to Delaro Complete since it contains the same actives as Stratego YLD plus the SDHI component.
  • Priaxor plus Slant (generic propiconazole, the a.i. in Tilt). This should cost $10 to $13, depending on if you qualify for the rebate. BASF has a program for many regions in the U.S. where if you buy a propiconazole product, they will give you money when you also use Priaxor. Priaxor has two of the three components (Headline plus Xemium) of Revytek, so by adding a cheap triazole, you will get three modes of action.
  • Lucento. The full rate will run close to $13 before rebates, but if you purchase Hefty or Zinesto soybeans for the same acres, your net cost should be around $10. Lucento contains a triazole (TopGuard) and an SDHI (bixafen), so it is only two modes of action. However, since it does not contain a strobilurin, you should see far fewer green stems than you will with the four products I mentioned above. Plus, the triazole and the SDHI in Lucento are fantastic, so this is definitely a good fungicide option.

R3 (first pod):

Again, if you only want to spray once, late R2 or early R3 is probably when you want to spray. R3 is also a great time for your second fungicide application if you are after white mold. Ideally, we like to see two to three white mold treatments used, spaced roughly three weeks between each application.

R5 (beginning seed):

About the only time we suggest spraying this late is if it is looking like you could have an outstanding crop, but the weather is remaining wet and humid. Especially if you have had a history of disease, it could pay off pretty well to spray this late, but since your crop canopy will usually be tremendous by this point, you will most likely have to do an aerial application, which will raise your total cost versus spraying yourself.