Does any one know this brand of sticker? Also do they have a good shelf life? I didn’t buy it so I don’t know how old it is but it has never been opened. Was thinking of adding it when I spray copper soon. Good idea?
Label. http://www.domyownpestcontrol.com/msds/DREXEL_820_SURF-AC.pdf
I have used that same chemical or similar (some home use brand, maybe Bonide) before I got my big bucket of Nu Film 17. I still use it as a spreader sticker for herbicides. It is safe for the tree.
Wild,
As Levers mentioned, it looks safe for your trees, however it’s simply a surfactant (i.e. wetting agent) not a sticker. In other words it’s a spreader but not a sticker.
I’ve bought this type of economy spreader before for herbicides. Herbicides generally don’t need a sticker because most people don’t apply herbicides if it looks like it could rain soon after the application.
Theses surfactants will generally improve the performance of insecticides, fungicides and herbicides because they break the surface tension of the spray solution which helps provide better and more even coverage on the foliage. However, if you are looking for something which will provide some rainfastness, this product isn’t that.
In my opinion Nufilm 17 is one of the best stickers out there. It’s really sticky. I can hardly wash it out of my measuring cup. Tactic is another good one, but I’ve found it more expensive than Nufilm.
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Thanks to you both. Very interesting stuff Olpea. Yeah I keep hearing nufilm over and over. I’ll look into getting it.
Thanks guys
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I’ve seen a study comparing the rain fastness of NuFilm to Tactic and Tactic was the winner, but I don’t know how significant the difference. I just spent 20 minutes trying to find the research and came up empty. I know that my adviser from CPS recommends Tactic and it is the choice of many commercial growers in NYS in spite of being a bit more expensive.
Alan,
I remember that discussion. I think it was over on the old forum. I remember the study showed Nufilm not comparing all that favorable to tactic. I ended up last season switching to Nufilm anyway. It’s just so sticky I can’t imagine it would wash off very easily, and in fact I’ve noticed wettable powders stay on the foliage really good after rains with the Nufilm.
Tactic reminds me a little of latex paint, so I’m sure it stays on really good too. Are you using the Tactic?
I still use Tactic as much because I hate that stickiness you mention as anything- messy stuff. If I thought it led to better staying power I’d switch back in a moment. For me, relative material cost isn’t very significant because my margins are much larger than yours. My customers don’t pay per pound and labor is the thing. Being only an hour from perhaps America’s number 1 money manufacturing city, I’m in a different economy than most of the country. The “rent” is higher to live within range of the money trough. The cost of living here makes the cost of pesticides relatively trivial to me. To exemplify, the illegal immigrants in my town routinely charge $120 per day to blow leaves with your equipment. My help is considerably more expensive.
I will use most any material that will reduce the amount of labor, including the number of sprays, as long as the environmental impact seems OK.
I still have a 5-year supply of Nufilm but may try Tactic when that finishes. For my dormant sprays I use 5x the label quantity of nufilm and the stuff is still going strong several months later - the blue of the copper is still visible. Since there are no leaves there is no phytotoxicity issue. After losing figs for the last several years I am thinking a Nufilm coating on them could also be a good idea, the biggest problem with figs is drying out.
Genius. Good gardeners are geniuses of the obvious- also known as common sense. Seems to be a relatively rare trait, actually, even though most folks think they possess it.
Does anybody know if there’s any difference between Nu Film 17 and Nu Film P? Martins produce sell both and I’m not sure which one to get.
Also what’s the shelf life on nufilm?
I have some NuFilm on hand. Has anyone ever tried mixing it with deer and rabbit repellent? I don’t foresee getting out to my orchard to respray in mid-winter, so would NuFilm help the repellent last longer?
I found this statement “Nu-Film-P is a superior sticking agent than Nu-Film 17 but does not have the long term extender properties of Nu-Film-17. So when an insecticide and fungicide spray applications are close to harvest time (less than 30 days) switch from Nu-Film-17 to Nu-Film-P.” on this page https://www.pestrong.com/510-nu-film-17-sticker-long-term-extender-surfactant-gal.html
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What I wonder is why anyone should believe descriptions provided by the manufacturer? Have any of you seen any research on the NuFilm products? I’m skeptical about the ability of the product to slow down the breakdown of pesticides because it would be the spreader-sticker of choice in commercial production if it was effective at this. .
BTW, I don’t recommend Peststrong as a supplier. When I ordered something from them I couldn’t get any customer service to explain when shipment would come or any response at all. I ended up having my credit card deal with them since they’d already taken my money.
They finally canceled my order but never communicated with me. Try Keystone for mail order pesticides.
Is there a better sticker than Nufilm? I don’t want to spend more than $50 on a sticker since I only have about 10 trees.
I’ve never ordered from Peststrong and really don’t give a rat’s ass if the manufacturer statements provided are correct or not. I was just trying to provide an answer for someone looking for one.
I don’t use NuFilm. I just buy cheap spreader/sticker from Southern Ag or Hi-Yield
As we are all.
I’m not saying there’s something wrong with Nufilm, only that I’m suspicious of their claim to have a formula that protects specifically against U.V. degradation. I wish I knew.
I use Tactic because I’ve seen studies that show it to be superior to Nufilm and others as a sticker- I worry most here about holding up to rain. But it’s about the same price as NuFilm.
This was the question I was attempting to answer. You attempted to answer a different question (is there a better option than Nu-Film)
smsith and Alan I appreciate both your answers. So thank you both.
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Their are plenty of less expensive ones like Ag Spreader Sticker, Hi-Yield, Bonide Turbo. I have no idea if they are better or worse. I haven’t seen any studies comparing all the brands. I’m sure they all work since it’s not complicated chemistry.
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