The control of powdery mildew in glasshouse crops

Every glasshouse grower knows that powdery mildew thrives in humid conditions. However, such conditions are often unavoidable, especially in well-developed crop canopies in large glasshouses where air flow is difficult to achieve on cool humid days.

As such, even the largest commercial glasshouse will have a continual struggle and outbreaks of powdery mildew.

Whilst there are synthetic fungicides available for spraying on most glasshouse crops, they have some major drawbacks, notably;

1. The glasshouse operation has to be halted whilst the crop is being sprayed as the compounds being used are hazardous to human health.
2. The pre-harvest interval is routinely 30 days or more. For successional crops like tomato and cucumber, which are harvested over many months, this simply isn’t possible, so the mildew has to be left to develop or the crop given up and a new planting begun.

At Eutrema, we have a developed a bio-fungicide which overcomes these two major issues for glasshouse growers. Our Chitosan bio-fungicide, is manufactured from food-grade materials. As such, it is not classified as hazardous and can be sprayed in a glasshouse with no issue to people working in the vicinity.

Furthermore, the European Union have issued Chitosan with a pre-harvest interval (PHI) of zero days! This means that the crop can be sprayed, and the ripe fruit taken for packing with no issues.

If these benefits were not enough there are two other major advantages to using chitosan as a fungicide in glasshouses;

1. The Eutrema formulation is approved for use on organic crops by the Organic Farmers & Growers Association.
2. We have tested our Chitosan bio-fungicide widely on numerous crops, and have a good set of data showing its effectiveness against powdery mildew and other fungal and bacterial pathogens. This is on top of the many nurseries across Europe who are now using Eutrema’s Chitosan on high value glasshouse crops. This includes tomatoes, aubergines, strawberries and grapes.

Eutrema’s founder, Dr Russell Sharp has over ten years of experience in developing chitosan formulations and their use on commercial farms. So, if you would like advice on using chitosan, or would like to arrange an on-farm trial, please do not hesitate to get in touch.

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