By Clint Thompson
Southeast strawberry growers should be mindful that there appears to be a shortage of Thiram this spring. This is according to a blog post made by Phil Brannen, University of Georgia (UGA) Cooperative Extension fruit disease specialist.
He confirmed the news after consulting with Natalia Peres, professor of plant pathology at the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS) Gulf Coast Research and Education Center.
“The company that produces it, they did not make another run this year, evidently. I haven’t talked to them directly, but this is coming through Natalia Peres. She sent me some information and read some of the emails that they had provided. It’s pretty dire from the standpoint whether or not we’re going to keep that material,” Brannen said.
“They’re waiting on a decision from EPA. Since EPA has not made a decision, they just couldn’t justify putting money towards the product this year and then getting caught ‘holding the bag’ with having material they couldn’t sell. There’s at least a slim possibility that EPA would allow Thiram on certain commodities, especially strawberries where we have the problem with Neopestalotiopsis. It’s one of the few products that works pretty well and does not have resistance development.
“As of today, I would say it’s a pretty slim possibility that we will maintain that product on the market.”
Brannen said the EPA has proposed canceling it for use on strawberries and other commodities.
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“We’re to the point now that we don’t have any. There’s just none left,” Brannen said. “They didn’t want to get stuck with inventory they couldn’t sell, basically is what it amounted to. As of today, you can use Thiram that you have on hand. That’s not a problem. More than likely, the EPA would not say you can not use existing stocks if they were to cancel it. I don’t think that would be the case.
“I suspect they will probably allow existing stocks to be utilized. But as of today, if you don’t have it sitting in your storage unit, you don’t have it probably at all.”