It’s not redundant. Commercial fruit growers mix different fungicides all the time. I do it. In fact that’s exactly why ag chemical manufacturers developed pre-mixes. Pristine, Luna Sensation, Inspire Super, etc., etc. are all pre-mixes of different classes of fungicides.
What would be redundant is to mix two fungicides of the same group number, but that’s not at all what we are talking about.
I sometimes mix captan with propiconazole. Captan works pretty well for me if applied at the max rate. But many times I mix captan at the half rate and add propiconazole. I actually think I get better protection with the mix vs. captan alone.
Different herbicide classes are also mixed to improve performance and reduce the amount of chemicals. There is a prof. at Clemson (can’t think of his name right now) who has done a lot of research for herbicides used under fruit crops. His research has specialized in finding ways to use less herbicide (herbicides are a significant expense for fruit growers). By mixing different classes of herbicides, rates can be drastically reduced.
I REALLY appreciate you saying that. Really. Next time someone harasses me for my spray mixture, I’m just going to say “Mark said its ok”! That alone should shut down criticism from anyone who has been on GF . org for more than 5 minutes! ha.
Seriously, though, I do appreciate the confirmation that my use of Captan and Myclo isn’t too egregious and may even be a good idea.
The Captan I’m using does that a bit too and part of it gets kind of cakey.But mine is being put in a Windex size spray bottle,by way of a small funnel,with a thin diameter nozzle.The stuff clogs at the funnel’s neck and a coat hangar wire is used to push it through.That probably breaks it up enough to dissolve easier.Right now only a little is needed for a Cherry bush.
What i found more important about Captan is that it burnt my plums. Green or Italian. I don’t know what it will do to the surface of Japanese plums. We do have Captan here, but there is little use of it.