Comparing black spot fungicide programs

June 2013 | Orchard Services | Future Orchards® trial report

This Future Orchards® trial compared black spot fungicide programs under orchard conditions. Black spot management depends on maintaining protection through infection periods, so program performance is influenced by timing, weather, coverage and the sequence of products used across the season.

The report was designed as a practical comparison rather than a general disease overview, giving growers a way to assess how alternative programs perform in a commercial orchard setting.

The value of this type of trial is that it tests complete management programs rather than considering fungicides in isolation. Results can help inform decisions about how to build a robust program while balancing disease pressure, application opportunities and resistance-management needs.

Because product registrations, labels and resistance group recommendations may have changed since 2013, the report is best used as historical trial evidence alongside current APVMA information and local crop-protection advice.

That program-level perspective remains useful even when individual products change, because black spot control depends on how well the whole sequence maintains protection and manages resistance, not simply on selecting a single fungicide.