Simon’s Seasonal Insights – Summer Days For Leafy Salads
28 June 2025, UK: I don’t have to tell anyone about the weather over the last four months. It’s been ideal for barbeques and salad sales, but posed some serious challenges for leafy salad and brassica growers, writes Syngenta Technical Manager, Simon Jackson.
The record dry spring has seen crops grow very quickly and placed a massive demand on irrigation. Unfortunately, dry weather also favours pests; aphids were initially low in number despite the spring, but the population has exploded through June.
With such dry soils and difficulty in keeping soil moisture deficits at a reasonable level, low water movement within plants has seen systemic insecticides struggle to deliver normal levels of efficacy.
Hopefully, as we move into July, the normal phenomenon of the mid-season aphid crash will bring about the disappearance of peach potato aphid etc.
Another feature of uneven soil moisture and fast growth, especially when combined with windy weather, is an increase in tip-burn. The unpredictable nature of this issue makes finding solutions difficult. The variety and availability of consistent watering make significant contributions to reducing tip-burn occurrence.
Could there also be a place for bio-stimulant products? One of the interesting effects of QUANTISTM is, it helps keep the stomata cells turgid, which could help reduce tip-burn by maintaining transpiration.
We have some trials this year and hopefully the data will give an indication. The research is looking at an initial QUANTISTM application a week to 10 days post planting, with a further application 2 weeks later, both at 2 l/ha. The crop health benefits of QUANTISTM rely on priming the plant before abiotic stress occurs.
However, as growers will appreciate, the unpredictable nature and occurrence of tip-burn may mean we have no results at the end of the season.
To finish on a positive note, downy mildew has been largely absent. The long days of July are usually low risk for disease, so it’s unlikely to be an issue until the autumn, when an increase in morning dews through late August will see disease risk increase again.
Just a reminder that ORONDIS® Plus with AMISTAR® offers excellent control of downy mildew in salad crops, while the short harvest interval of REVUS® makes it well positioned for use near harvest.
Also Read: Record Growth in Mango Production Drives India’s 2024-25 Horticulture Output: Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan Announces
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