Oh, I don’t know.
One guy in my regional fruit growing club sprays his trees for insect pests with a solution made from shavings of Fells Naptha Soap. A friend suggested using a calcium chloride spray made from sidewalk clearing pellets for fruit thinning.
My inclination is to spend the money for “the right thing” that has an EPA label on listed pests and application rates.
The EPA is your friend, not some Big Bad Government Agency that is trying to make you serve hard time in Federal prison.
That said, I was looking for a replacement for the Acetamiprid neonicitinoid agent in Ortho Flower Fruit and Vegetable Insect Killer Concentrate. Assail 30G in the 64 ounce jug I calculated from the label, which for “commercial and farm” use is labeled for a much higher rate than the Ortho product you can no longer get, is for me a 12-year supply and cost well over 200 dollars.
I saw that Acetamiprid was available in a smaller quantity for less money is a liquid form, and when I asked my Extension person, he told me, “check if it is labeled for the crop and the pests you want to control”, and sure shootin’ this alternative product was labeled for termite control instead. I asked “isn’t it the same active ingredient” and the reply was "it might have different inert ingredients along with adjuvants (fancy word for “enhancers”) .
The deal is that is something doesn’t have your fruit tree and your insect pest of concern on the label, the formulation in question, even if it has an EPA label, hasn’t been tested for what you want to use it for.
If it is one thing to put a poison on a food crop that the EPA has vouched is safe, but is a person going to put termite poison on their food, even if it has the same chemical for the active ingredient? As to why do you put poison on your food when you could go organic, many organic-certified bug killers are potent poisons that come from natural sources.
OK, you are putting dirt on your fruit, dirt splashes up when it rains, you wash your fruit off before you eat it. Still, I am thinking of sticking to what has an EPA label for the intended use.
By the way, Assail 30G 64 oz has come down to just below $200, probaby because it has a generic competitor ArVida 30G 64 oz that sells for just below $150. ArVida is labeled for the same crops, pests and application rates as Assail, but check the label to make sure for your application.
