The word flexible is not often used in agriculture, and even more so when it comes to adjuvant technologies. Many adjuvants (wetters, spreaders, stickers), used in agriculture, and more specific in horticulture, are used with specific agricultural chemicals in specific crops. This makes life difficult for growers to ensure the correct adjuvant with the pesticide is being applied to their high value horticultural crop. However, Agspec Australia Pty Ltd with the FLEXTEND® adjuvant is the anomaly. Flextend, by its very nature of hits name, is just that, flexible.
Flextend is an ideal partner in your pest and disease management program in almonds, avocados, apples, and other tree and vine crops, reducing the effects of UV light, rain, wind and cold winter weather conditions, ideal for fungicides and disease outbreak, along with insecticides for pest infestations.
General Manager, Jonathon Lillecrapp says “droplet lifetime is essential for maximum fungicide uptake, coverage, and retention. This is a major factor in the performance of fungicides for many tree crops like almonds, avocados and apples.”
“We have a lot of new information on Flextend, along with trials, and new use patterns, that we will be disseminating to growers over the coming months so that growers can identify where and when they wish to include Flextend in their spray program”, Jonathon says.
Furthermore, Flextend provides flexibility in its use as it is ideal for use with pesticides during flowering. Flextend does not impact bee activity during foraging, thereby ensuring maximum flowering and pollination during this critical growth period.
Flextend is a natural based polymer extracted from pine trees, based on pinene technology. Flextend limits the degradation effects of rain, UV light and wind on crop protection chemicals. Flextend is compatible with most fungicides, foliar fertilisers and insecticides and provides cuticular support to the leaf while ensuring leaf coverage.
Agspec recommends that Flextend be applied with one hour of sunlight for full polymerisation. Flextend does not foam, freeze or clog hoses or nozzles.
“From assisting with humidity concerns with glufosinate, to making mancozeb rainfast, to preventing UV breakdown of Bt’s in IPM programs, to being soft on bees and beneficial insects, the flexibility of Flextend makes it the preferred option for use in tree and vine crops,” Jonathon says.
“Growers have commented that with the use of Flextend they have seen a reduction of crop phyto effects on some of their more sensitive crops”, Jonathon added. It is critical that adjuvants are soft on the young sensitive emerging leaves on tree and vine crops as demonstrated with the naturally based Flextend.
With the weather variability in spraying, Flextend has been found to be excellent in the wet and even better in the dry, assisting with the weather challenges endured while spraying.
“We are very excited about the prospects for Flextend and I believe growers will be impressed also with what Flextend can do for their production system”, Jonathon says.