Fungicides Powdery mildew disease

About Fungicides

Meant to combat fungal diseases in cultivated plants, fungicides have been developed quite recently, in the history of plant-protection solutions. Whether they are made of biocidal chemical compounds or biological organisms, fungicides are meant to inhibit the growth and development of fungi, or fungal spores, which can cause serious damage in agriculture.

They can be of different types, of contact (protecting the surface of the plant), translaminar (redistributing the solution to the underside of the leaf, and protecting it as well) or systemic (redistributed through the plant’s vascular tissue).

Chemical fungicides are mostly based on sulphur, and natural ones include neem oil, rosemary oil, jojoba oil, or beneficial fungi.

Some pathogens can develop resistance to fungicides, so the best way to avoid this is by mixing the use of different products, alternating sprays or fungicide with a different mechanism of action. This way, the pathogen will not be able to adjust itself to more types of fungicides in a short period of time, and even if it resists to one, the other type of fungicide will kill it.