In recent years - and with help from John Campbell from Donnybrook Farm Service -  Mr Giblett has added the dual mode of action fungicide Luna Sensation to his spray program.

Developed by Bayer, Luna Sensation combines the active ingredient fluopyram with trifloxystrobin providing another fungicide option for growers and aiding disease resistance management.  

It controls blossom blight, shot hole and brown rot in stone fruit; black spot, powdery mildew and suppresses alternaria leaf blotch in apples; black spot in pears; and blossom blight, stone fruit rust, shot hole and suppresses hull rot in almonds.

“Most other alternative fungicides only contain one chemical group so the combination of two active ingredients provides wider disease control,” Mr Giblett said.

Mr Giblett said he applied fungicide on the nectarines at 10 per cent flowering to control blossom blight and again at least a day before picking to combat brown rot.

The fungicide is applied at 40 mL/100 L for the blossom blight and 30 mL/100 L for the brown rot through his Silvan air blast sprayer travelling at five kilometres per hour to ensure good coverage.

“Luna Sensation is applied twice on the pears, seven to 10 days apart from the green tip stage at 30 mL/100 L using enough water to provide good coverage to target black spot,” Mr Giblett said.

“The one day withholding period in stone fruit is a huge benefit for fruit marketing if it rains just before harvest.

“The withholding period in pome fruit is longer at 14 days, but this helps to control late disease outbreaks in the last two weeks prior to picking.”

Since using the fungicide Mr Giblett said he had not noticed any brown rot in the nectarines.

“The fruit has been clean and we have sold all the fruit that has gone in the bin. We are getting bigger fruit, cleaner fruit, and that puts more dollars in the pocket at the end.

“We are still working on the pears. We have an area of pear scab (black spot), but the results are better than the previous two years. We are starting to get on top of it and I think a lot of that is due to Luna Sensation.’’

The fungicide has been around for three years and growers have been comfortable using it and have had minimal outbreak of disease.

“Luna Sensation has certainly become a key part of the fungicide program at ‘Red Moon’ for the future.

“New chemistry is extremely important in the industry because things change and we can get resistance. We have to follow the label to the exact point or we are going to ruin the chemistry. That’s why we use it properly – so we can still use it in 10 years’ time.’’

‘Red Moon’ orchard grows Packham, Bartlett and Corel pears and Red Bright, Bright Pearl, August Bright and September Bright nectarines over 30 hectares, as well as table grapes.

The Giblett family’s fruit sells to major supermarket chains across Australia and to local markets.