Bayer Presents Armada Fungicide

New fungicide incorporates two chemistries to give lawn care operators an effective product at a more attractive price point.

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MONTVALE, N.J. - Today, Bayer Environmental Science introduced a new fungicide – Armada – designed and priced exclusively for the lawn care market.

Armada is a combination of active ingredients from two other Bayer products – 41.67-percent triadimefon (Bayleton) and 8.33-percent trifloxystrobin (Compass). The product, which will be available in May, will be priced 33 to 50 percent lower than previous and current fungicides on the market, according to Jim Fetter, manager – lawn care and landscape region.

“We developed pricing specifically based on end user feedback via a survey,” explained Rich Hanrahan, product development manager – fungicides.

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Bayer produced Armada “to create a truly fool-proof product lawn care operators (LCOs) can use to get the results they are looking for,” Fetter says, explaining that most fungicides on the market are priced for the golf course industry and devised for superintendents who are more experienced in disease identification and application timing. “We wanted to cut costs for the LCO and help them expand into disease management as an add-on service opportunity.”

According to Bayer, Armada provides preventive and curative control of 14 diseases (dollar spot, brown patch, leaf spot, summer patch, rapid blight, rust, stripe smut, pink snow mold, pink patch, anthracnose, gray leaf spot, red thread, southern blight and fusarium patch), making it a broad-spectrum product that even LCOs who have challenges identifying various diseases can use. “Disease ID will be less of a concern with this product,” Fetter says.

Other key points about Armada include:

  • Research shows that the product can provide control of most turf diseases for 30 days throughout the height of the turf disease season.
  • Good tank mix compatibility with other materials commonly used in the residential and commercial turf market.
  • Labeled for use on commercial and residential turf, in addition to sports turf, institutional turf, sod farms, sports fields, parks, municipal grounds and cemeteries. Bayer plans to add ornamental disease control to the label by early 2006.
  • Available in water-soluble packets.
  • Recommended application rates are 0.6 to 1.2 ounces per 1,000 square feet, depending on the potential or current disease threat.

As Fetter explained: “We’re showing LCOs that they don’t have to treat golf courses or use products specifically designed for golf courses to give their customers golf course-quality turf.”

For more information about Armada, visit www.bayerprocentral.com.