That is another thing that bothers me. I’ve heard others nag about it as well. Many of us, who don’t use boom sprayers, mix sprays by the gallon. How does one deal with spraying trees with ratios given in measurements with area instead of by volume? I understand it for people spraying fields; it makes sense. But, for trees, it’s just not practical.
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Though I did a lot of research my plan ended up being very close to @alan’s Synthetic Spray Guide. I had to change a few things because:
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I have pears (which aren’t on the label for many things)
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I went with some more local recommendations in a few ways
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I went with chemicals that came in smaller water soluble packets (turned out not to matter because EVERY SINGLE PACKET was broken when they got to me).
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I added oil+sulfur spray in fall and spring for pear leaf blister mite which was OOC
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I added spray for fireblight as I had several pear and apple hit very hard last year and lost two big trees and there are two which I had to cut very severely and they are not well this year. 6.
I am also using a handgun. I tested to see how much water I would need to spray an acre in the manner the label told me to (I don’t have an acre of trees but I did 1/8 acre and multiplied). Then, I mixed according to the label and followed the instructions. They’re pretty specific about how to apply it (to runoff, wet each leaf, etc. ) I haven’t had problems with burning leaves or seeing residue on anything.
This goes with the previous - you figure out how much water you need first. I use more water when the trees are larger and have more leaves. Some of the pesticides do give amounts based on tree size (eg. large/standard vs smaller) or density. I think this is becoming more common because of IPM and you want to use the least amount possible but still completely control.
Also, I got a food/postal scale to measure the chemicals by weight because even with 15-40 gal of water the amount of each chemical I need is still very small.
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It is pretty expensive for a gallon and a half. But it lasts a long time. As you are probably aware, Actara is in the same class.
I like them because they kick back several days. I’ve seen cherries with curc scars but no larva many times, so I like these products for that.
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Technically, any living thing which reduces yield or affects quality is a pest, hence the word pesticide, which covers insecticides, herbicides, fungicides, bactericides, rodenticides, etc.
So weeds, disease, insects, birds, etc. can all be pests. I know you meant insects, when you wrote pests, but I just wanted to clarify. That’s one of the things you may be tested on if you get your private applicator’s license.
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You just have to calibrate your spraying. Fill whatever sprayer you’re using with a known volume and then figure out how many square feet you sprayed including row middles. Then do the math from there. When backpacking smaller trees I usually just use our dilution for our air last which does 50 gallons to the acre.
Just be mindful that liquid sprays are measured in volume, not weight. The density is listed on the MSDS and I just looked at the Roundup one and it’s 1.36g/ml which would mean if you needed 6 oz of concentrate you would need to weight out 8.16 oz. However, Exirel and Inspire super are just about the same density as water. If a spray looks watery rather than oily it’s probably closer to water, but some sprays are highly concentrated, so it may change. Another way to figure it out is to spray by the Ai per acre, just takes a tiny bit more math.
I understand being critical of giant corporate farms when it comes to this. But an unexpected pest can bankrupt a smaller farmer. We work a very hard job that most people do not want that carries a ton of risks and does not pay well, to have many years of worked wiped out by one season is devastating and is a main driver of people leaving farming. For example, I now have a field infested with Brassica clubroot, this is going to put a huge dent in my income this year, and make things much more challenging in the future.
Farmers these days know that pollinators pay our bills. We are much more mindful of risks than farmers were in the past. Foliar applied neonics also carry less risk for pollinators than soil applied. And probably have less risk than pyrethroids, which are allowed in California regardless.
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Evenfall:
I know some folks like to convert a label provided in weight to volume like tablespoons per gallon for smaller sprayers. We use a scale when the rate is given in ounces or pounds per acre and a measuring cup when the rate is given in fluid ounces or pints/acre. Our dedicated $20 scale makes everything easy and precise. We like the precision of weighing the chemicals where the label rate is in pounds and ounces, especially something “hot” like Imidan.
We are set up for 50 GPA on our Airblast sprayer too. Makes things easy. We do not enjoy spraying and have done things to make it easier safer and faster including a powered pesticide helmet.
Our concerns about the use of Neonicotinoids have been reduced after a local honey producer placed a dozen hives on our small farm over 4 years ago. He has hives in multiple locations and commented that his bees on our farm are healthy and some of his most productive.
Looks like you grow a lot of stuff! Can you share the types of fruit you grow and your location?
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This is another thing I should note! When I picked my pesticides, I tried to pick ones that were powder or granules instead of liquid. As my orchard is not big enough to use a whole container quickly, I thought the non-liquids would hold up better over multiple seasons.
I don’t have an air conditioned space to keep most of these things. The very expensive liquids I keep in my garage, though I would prefer to have a place that is not inside my house to keep pesticides. The others I keep in my shed which mostly stays in an appropriate temperature range for the powders and granules.
That’s good info thanks for the reply.
No problem. I’m not saying you shouldn’t be critical of pesticide use, because you absolutely should be, and I’m sure there is currently plenty of problems with the emergency use registration you mentioned. For too long, pesticides were used with very little regard for anything other than yield.
More and more farmers are cognizant of the drawbacks not only to the environment, but to their own livelihood from the overuse of pesticides now. However if small farmer goes out of business or retires because pest burden then that land is either going to be developed or purchased by a much larger corporation. Around here that means turning into a grass seed farm most likely. There is always a lot to weigh in the decisions that we make.
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Yes, they are neonicotinoids. Do you find them significantly more effective then Assail for PC? I’m not really seeing any PC larva with Assail just bite damage. It might be an issue of timing for me waiting for everything to finish bloom. I could probably do better at spraying targeted trees right after petal fall, but that’s another weekly spray on top of CAR spray. I don’t know of any alternative / “Organic” control method that might be effective without risk of killing pollinators
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The books rate them higher than Assail for PC. I’m not sure I’ve used Assail for PC. Maybe I have, I can’t remember. Years run together.
As I recall, the half life for Actara and Belay is about twice as long as Assail. Also Actara and Belay do very well in rain chambers, compared to Assail.
I generally wait till tart cherries are done blooming. About that time peaches are starting to split shucks, so I hit them with the first spray.
We do get some PC feeding by waiting so long. I know one grower who hits the peaches before bloom with something cheap like permethrin, just to knock PC down.
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