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All plants have natural disease defense abilities. The ability of your plants to defend themselves against disease or host, is regulated by several protective chemical defense pathways. To become effective, these natural defense pathways need to be signalled or turned on (elicited). Naturally, the signalling of these pathways occurs only by infection from the attacking disease (pathogens). At this point, while the plant still works to defend itself, early season vigor and yield has already been lost to some degree.
How Heads Up® Offers a Preventative Approach
While traditional fungicides kill the disease-producing organism directly by targeting a specific host, Heads Up® works by signalling and turning on the plants natural defense abilities pre-infection. By signalling a defensive response pre-infection, Heads Up® protects your plants against disease before vigor and yield are lost.
This mode of action, called Systemic Acquired Resistance, allows your plants to defend themselves against disease in a pro-active approach. As S.A.R. it is not host specific, Heads Up® Plant Protectant offers control over a broad spectrum of diseases.
How Heads Up® Works to Help Prevent Soil Borne Diseases.
- Heads Up® Plant Protectant is applied to your seed as a seed treatment (seed dressing). The product can be used alone or mixed with other liquid fungicides/insecticide seed treatments or inoculants for enhanced disease control.
- Upon germination, the primary root (radical) comes into contact with the chemistries in Heads Up®, which signals and stimulates a defensive response within your plant.
- Because of this defensive response, the plants natural defense mechanism has now been elicited, making its innate defense abilities active before any disease (pathogens) strike.
- This response, signalled by Heads Up® systemic mode of action, stays with the plant all season long, providing the plant with full season enhanced protection.
For enhanced disease control, we recommend pairing Heads Up® with leading genetics, such as good field tolerance ratings against specific pathogens. While Heads Up® can be used alone, due to its compatibility and unique mode of action, combining it with other fungicide/insecticide seed treatments can be an excellent disease management practice.