Looking for advice on larger sizes of fungicide for brown rot and plc. Also, insecticide. Want something larger than what is commonly sold in box stores. Cheap would be nice as well. Any advice of what and where? Thanks.
I normally purchase Captan 50 WP or Captan 80 on the internet. Sometimes from Amazon. Depends on price. Not everything on Amazon is reasonably priced. Normally I can get it in 5 lb bags.
they also carry Eagle fungicide (myclobutanil) at a cheaper price than for me to purchase Rally again (although both have worked great for me).
Schlabach’s Nursery in NY also offers some insecticides/fungicides in larger quantities if you check their catalog.
I believe for brown rot Indar is supposed to be the best, the problem is buying it in such huge quantities as not available in small lots (at least that I could find).
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Have you personally ordered from them?
Keystone Pest Solutions is a reputable company and often has the best price for chemicals. Many of us have ordered from them.
I bought Kocide from it.
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Keystone is also my go-to when my local ag chemical supplier won’t ship. My supplier says Captan is too much a fire hazard to ship but Keystone doesn’t.
Every state has some corporate source for ag chems that may be willing to ship single packages. Farmers use this one in NYS. Keystone doesn’t carry some chems I need that that NAS does. They used to be Crop Production Systems.
Yes, regularly
Mike
I get all of my sprays online at Martins Produce Supplies and Keystone.
Martins has better prices than Keystone, but they don’t have as large a selection. Both are great companies to deal with.
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Another thumbs up, my go-to also. About half the price of amzn (if amzn even has it in the first place), and shipping was faster than expected. Also supports PayPal. It took me weeks to find this combination.
I have also purchased from Keystone with good success. I also try to buy locally from Nutrient Ag Solutions. Sometimes they are cheaper.
Topsin-M 70 WP is highly rated against brown rot and is registered for both pome and stone fruit. It has 12 hours REI and can be used very close to harvest. It is also good against sooty blotch and flyspeck of apples. Among equally effective fungicides, it is inexpensive. Captan is less effective against brown or white rot. Two drawbacks of Topsin: it is restricted in some states; it comes prepackaged (5 lbs.) in 5x1lb. dissolvable bags intended to be placed directly in your 200 gallon spray tank, so if you’re using a smaller tank, you’ll have to cut open those bags and weigh the material. You can purchase it at Keystone Pest Solutions – not sure about Amazon.
https://www.keystonepestsolutions.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=289&restricted=
Is there a fungicide that can be all purpose? Something one size fits all for stones and pomes?
I use Rally and Captan. I pretty much follow Alan’s spray schedule.
Robert, because there are many different fungi that attack certain fruits at different times in the growing season under various weather conditions, there is really no “silver bullet” fungicide that covers all possibilities effectively. What you would use for early season scab, for example, would not be what you would want to use for late season sooty blotch. The best advice is to identify your specific problem and purchase and use an appropriate product. It does require a wee bit of research.
All fungicides have strong and weak points. We all want one fungicide that works great on all fungi and can be sprayed on all our different species of fruit trees without any label restrictions. Unfortunately it doesn’t exist. You want to try to learn what some of the common diseases and pests look like and use that knowledge to pick fungicides and insect sprays that work well against those problems.
Captan is a reasonable choice if you are only going to buy one fungicide and inexpensive. But you need to adjust the pH of the spray water to the acid side since Captan breaks down quickly in basic water. The pH issue is explained in this post.
First Enterprise apple - #25 by mroot
Another option is to use a second fungicide to help the first in the weak areas. I use Captan and Immunox mixed in the same tank. I also use Daconil. For stone fruits you could use Captan mixed with Daconil up to shuck split. Daconil isn’t labeled for use on apples but the label allows use on many vegetables and ornamental plants in addition to stone fruits.
How many trees do you have? If your number of trees is small, shelf life of fungicides and insecticides can be a problem since you don’t spray much of it each year. Also is your orchard in a residential area? Some products are restricted to use in non-residential areas either by the label or state law.
At first all of this may seem overwhelming. I felt overwhelmed in the beginning when I started spraying. If you don’t know where to start you should look at Alan’s spray schedule. It’s a good place to start.
I also recommend that you get a copy of the label and read it before you buy any fungicide or insecticide.
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Had to ask the question. Maybe there really was a magical fungicide that does everything. Seems like that would sell pretty good. For the most part this summer put me over 250 fruit and nut trees and I needed to start buying larger sizes of spray. Advice on brands was helpful too. Thanks to all who provided information.
Anyone here have experience with Actara (a neonic)? The minimum quantity that runs $100 from Martins (mentioned above) would be more than a lifetime supply for me given the size of my orchard and my remaining life expectancy for being in my 60’s. I guess who manages my estate will have to continue using it or figure out its safe disposal.
What is involved in storing it, measuring it and mixing it, especially for, say, a 1/3 acre orchard?
Ortho Flower Fruit and Vegetable Insect Killer Concentrate (acetamiprid – a neonic) has been discontinued by Scotts Ortho, Sevin no longer contains Carbaryl and its new formula is expensive per amount of coverage, a pyrethroid that people tell me isn’t very effective on curculio and I don’t want to start using organophosphates for applicator safety (that would be me).
I use Actara. Works very well for PC. It has limited activity for OFM and CM. In past years I’ve gotten lots of PC egg laying scars when I got behind on spraying. In every case Actara has proven curative action. That is, killed the larva (which is absorbed by the fruit). It still leaves the scar, but no grub. Store it in a dry moderate consistent area (like a basement) and it will last forever.
Like any granulated/powdered chemical, you will need a small scale to measure the compound when spraying smaller areas.
When I buy it, like a lot of dry chemicals, they have started to supply a little plastic cup with graduated measuring lines, so you don’t have to weigh it out. I think you only get one cup per case, so if you just order one jug, you may not get the cup.
Don’t know much about Oriental Fruit Moth (OFM) – could this be stinging my plums? On the other hand, my orchard is close to an Experimental Station of my state’s ag extension, and I read their weekly bulletins of what pest to be on guard about. The agent sending those bulletins also operates a commercial orchard just down the road from me.
Last year, the extension agent warned about codling moth being a threat, but I didn’t see much damage from that. I was told the maggot fly pressure was low, but I was seeing them in my orchard – I applied the Ortho consumer acetamiprid product that I still have some of, and I still got substantial damage to early-season Duchess of Oldenburg – could have been my fault in not mixing the right proportion of one spray.
PC control is great, but if this thing isn’t active against maggot fly, I am going to need to identify another insecticide or do more research on what to use?
When I got PC damage on plums, I mostly saw the telltale crescent scars.