BASF set to expand portfolio to fungicides

Golf Course News, Sep 2002 by Overbeck, Andrew

SUPPLIER BUSINESS

Editorial Focus: Fungicides

RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C.-BASF Professional Turf is gearing up to roll out the first of several products for its new turfgrass fungicide line.

BASF is a major worldwide player in the fungicide market but it has never offered any fungicide products to the turfgrass industry. That is all set to change in 2003 with the expected release of Insignia, a broad spectrum strobilurin that offers 28day control, and Emerald, a specialized product that offers dollar spot control. At press time, both new products were still awaiting approval from the Environmental Protection Agency.

BASF has built a dedicated manufacturing facility in Sparks, Ga., to handle the new fungicide line and plans on introducing more new products over the next several years. The company also has added 10 new sales representatives in the last two years to handle the new products.

Insignia has been in the works since 1996, and will compete with Syngenta's Heritage and Bayer ES' Compass, the other two strobilurins currently on the market.

"The main distinctive feature is that Insignia offers significant suppression of dollar spot and will be the first in this class of chemistry to be registered for control of bentgrass dead spot," said Henry Wetzel, biology product leader. "Overall, if you compare it to others, we are closer to Heritage because we provide up to 28 days of control and Compass is a 14- to 21-day product."

Wetzel expects the product to have strong applications in the northern U.S. for snow mold protection and in the MidAtlantic and Midwest for control of brown patch. "It will be used as far south as bentgrass can be grown," he added.

Insignia is intended for use asa preven

tive fungicide and should be applied several weeks before disease outbreak. "If a course has a full-blown disease outbreak it should go with a contact type product and then follow up with Insignia."

Since strobilurins attack the same site in a fungus, a key concern is resistance management.

"There is documented resistance with pythium, anthracnose and gray leaf spot," said Wetzel. "Therefore we would not want courses to use this product for more than one-third of its applications for any disease."

That is where Emerald comes in, said fungicide marketing manager Greg Thompson.

"We are trying to make new products

and chemistries we think will help with resistance issues," he said. "We have products like Insignia that offer better efficacy and better broad spectrum controls and we have products like Emerald that offer the specialized dollar spot control. We have other products in the pipeline that offer other modes of action that will further help manage against resistance issues."

END-USER FEEDBACK

While both products are awaiting registration, BASF has turned to superintendents like Fred Biggers at the 45-hole Wintergreen Resort in Wintergreen, Va., for feedback.

Biggers has tried both products over the last two years on the newest nine holes at the facility that opened in 1998. The layout is all bentgrass and is situated in a very hot and humid environment.

"I used Insignia as part of my preventive program for tees, greens and fairways," said Biggers. "It is very similar to Heritage and we have applied it every two weeks and seen very little if any pythium or brown patch. It is better than Heritage on dollar spot."

Biggers has been testing Emerald in a separate area and has had 28-day control of dollar spot.

"We had a par-3 fairway that was infested with dollar spot. We got it under control with Emerald and gave it a light fertilization and it is perfect now," said Biggers. "Emerald would make a good tank mix with Insignia."