Captain Jack’s vs Entrust

General Gardening
#1

I have confirmed allium leafminer on my onions, per this telltale sign:

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I had these last year but saw them too late. My crop was ok but small. This season, I did not cover my plants this year, instead, I tried crop rotation but apparently I didn’t rotate them far enough.

I find row covers etc. be a giant pain in the ass when it comes to getting in there to weed and irrigate them. I may try next year.

A lot of articles, like this one, mention Spinosad as a control, naming the brand Entrust. Entrust is a 22% concentrate of Spinosad A and D. However, it’s $600+ for a bottle which would last me until my great grandchildren die.

Captain Jack’s is 0.5% Spinosad A and D. If I do the best rough math I can, the concentration at which Captain Jack’s recommends spraying, ends up at about the same per acre concentration as Entrust recommends for alliums, after adjusting for the concentration difference.

So should I assume it’s worth trying and may work? I guess part of the appeal is that spinosad is slightly systemic, and that keeps coming up in most of the reading I’m doing.

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#2

One other option worth looking at in Conserve SC, as far as I can tell it a non organic option because it has non organic inactive ingredients. It is 11% spinosad and costs $150ish a bottle, so it is about half the price of Entrust. I don’t know if that’s still overkill for your scale though.

Also works really well for flea beetles which are a big headache around here.

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#3

Agree with @Evenfall about the Conserve SC. If you’re going to be using a fair amount of spinosad in garden and orchard, it’s the best value. For most applications, you need only about 1/2 tsp per gallon.

Spinosad is not systemic—doesn’t enter the plant’s vascular system—but it is translaminar, and will enter and remain in leaf and perhaps other tissues for a limited time. That’s how it gets the miners. A good adjuvant such as Nu-Film will increase efficacy and length of effectiveness. Very low mammalian toxicity—they actually make oral spinosad preparations for systemic flea control in cats and dogs----but toxic to bees, particularly when wet. Best to spray when they’re not active.

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#4

I sprayed at dusk last night. I used Bonide Turbo as an adjuvant since I had it on hand.

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#5

That ought to do the trick. Let us know how it goes.

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#6

If you do use spinosad, make sure you rotate it as well. We’ve been having problems with group 5 resistance. Azaguard is also recommended.

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#7

The problem is there’s really nothing else available to me in Maryland to use which is effective on ALM.

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#8

According to this, azadirachtin is ineffective against this pest:

https://www.growingproduce.com/vegetables/field-scouting-guide-allium-leafminer/?amp

imidacloprid works but is banned in Maryland.

The other listed pesticides also seem to be very difficult to find.

#9

All the ones on the link above which are neocontinoids are banned in MD if you’re not licensed. All of the others, when I search them they come up as fly bait, not something you could spray on a plant.

#10

This one is available but only seems to be labeled for use on ornamentals. It’s one of the “best “ones in that article for ALM.

#11

So I’m looking up all of the various insecticides in that article above, and the only ones I can seem to get a hold of are really only labeled for use on ornamentals and vegetable transplants for sale.

Nothing about using them on crops that are in ground for food production.