Launched last year by Syngenta, Minecto Star contains a full rate of cyantraniliprole (the active ingredient in Exirel), plus
pymetrozine (a systemic aphicide as in Chess).
Both active ingredients are IPM compatible, with pymetrozine adding additional aphid control over cyantraniliprole alone.
It’s registered for use against a wide range of pests in forage brassicas, including diamond back moth, leaf miner, soybean looper, white butterfly and aphids.
With the market now moving away from using broad-spectrum organophosphate insecticides, introduction of Minecto Star has been well received by New Zealand end users and retailers, says John Yates, customer marketing, Syngenta.
Now a new campaign - ‘It’s all about precision’ – aims to build on that this season, offering customers a free set of digital scales with qualifying purchases of Minecto Star, so they can measure out granules with digital precision.
To show the market how good Minecto Star is on aphids, Syngenta conducted a series of commercial field evaluations last
season in high aphid pressure situations.
“This meant waiting for aphids to arrive and letting them build up to higher than recommended numbers before spraying.
“The results from Minecto Star were very impressive, at least equivalent to Pirimor and superior to the OP/SP standard and
cyantraniliprole alone,” Yates says.
With a significant amount of forage brassica insecticides being sprayed by contractors, Syngenta also asked contactors what they think about Minecto Star.
Gary Harrison, Harrison Spraying, Mayfield, was representative of a very positive response:
“We liked Minecto Star because of no OP’s getting into us, and it worked. The beauty of Minecto Star is it’s leaving the ladybirds alive, which means the aphids don’t come back.
“It does a really good job on caterpillars and aphids. One pass does it all.”
The last two seasons have not seen high insect numbers, but with El Nino conditions looking to prevail this season, it’s looking like it might be a big year for insects.
“And we are ready with Minecto Star,” Yates says.
For more information, talk to your Syngenta territory sales manager.