Some months ago, lime sulfur was voluntarily removed from the retail market. Even so, existing supplies could be sold.

Currently, it seems that retail outlets are out of stock.

Because of the non-existent supply, WSU has removed lime sulfur from their recommendations. OSU is likely to soon follow suit.

I was also told last weekend that MicroCop was banned by the EPA. And that starting "soon" next year? the other Lilly copper product, even though it was only 8% will be unavailable. The nursery manager pointed and said "all these right here won't be around either" showing me his stock of the other brand of 8% MCE products. He said pretty much the only one left is the Monterrey Liqui-Cop for copper products.

Is this true and was it voluntary or really EPA intervention? link?

Thanks

The clerk at the farm store told me that it was a "labeling issue" and that he hoped that it would be resolved soon. Seems that he has been seeing a number of angry customers.

I heard from the local nursery manager too that Polysul and Microcop are both being "discontinued" and they pointed to the EPA too. I bought the Monterey Liquicop too as a substitute. What's up with all these discontinued products?

Lime sulfur and Bordeaux solution (with inorganic copper) are fairly easy to make with readily available materials and up until 60 or so years people regularly made their own anyway. Any old fruit growing book will tell how. Net instructions are even easier to find I'm sure.

White or clear solutions with copper would take a little more searching for the raw material (copper hydroxide, I believe) but I have seen how to make this in old fruit growing books as well.

Copper sulfate is available in most hardware stores as sewer line root killer and in many farm and garden stores as farm pond algae killer. Quicklime is similarly sold in some hardware and farm and garden stores (I forget for what main purpose).

So Lime Sulphur is not longer going to be available?

Correct.

Today I actually found two quarts of Polysul at Lowes! Last of their supply.

Talked to another farm store manager today. He says that Lilly Miller "voluntarily" removed Polysul from the market. They had lime-sulphur in 2.5 gallon ag containers -- more that I could use!

He also told me that he has heard rumors that next year Malathion, Sevin and Diazinon will no longer be available to "consumers."

Diazinon hasn't been available to home users for 5 or so years.

Anyone know the shelf life of Lime Sulfur? I just bought some and would like to buy some more if its going to last.

I contacted Lilly Miller, the person answering the phone didn't seem to know what Polysul was let alone if it was still available.

I still laugh at this....

Anyone know the shelf life of Lime Sulfur?
Also, anyone know the shelf life of Micro-Cop? I assume it's a very long time since it's in powder form?

"Anyone know the shelf life of Lime Sulfur?"

According to Lilly Miller's website, one year.

"I still laugh at this...."

It got better, he said that everyone was in a "meeting" that could answer my question, but he would call me right back. Never did. At least they didn't outsource customer service to "Pockastan" (sic).

Beware of recommended shelf lives or expiration dates on inorganic chemicals such as lime sulfur and probably many copper fungicides. These are often (I donÂt know about those items specifically) woefully too short, meaning the material is fine and useful long afterwards. I see expiration dates on lab chemicals (letÂs say copper sulfate that we might use as fungicide) that are simply goofy. Such chemicals are perfectly good as least as long as the container lasts. If we put that same copper sulfate in a glass jar of fused quartz (a stronger glass, and the jar need not even be airtight sealed) it would be just as good a billion years from now as it is today. Two billion. Three. The extremely slow slumping of glass would be the only fundamental problem. I donÂt know what the criteria are for these shelf life or expiration times but clearly they often have nothing at all to do with usability.

I want to second Gonebananas' comment- I can't think of any of the inorganics I used to sell as even being labelled with an expiration date when we got them. Many of them were shipped in paper bags or cardboard drums.

Many of the organics will also last many years if stored in a cool area in a tightly sealed glass container.

Lime sulfur stored for over a year tends to crystallize. To be able to use it requires using very hot water for the mix. The material still works as intended it is just a nuisance. Al

Lime sulfur stored for over a year tends to crystallize

Thanks Al. Same thing happens with my Foliage Pro.

I've had similar experience this winter searching for lime sulfur - nobody has any. I have found elemental sulfur fungicide (wettable powder), which my reading tells me it is not as effective, but I think it will provide enough protection for me as I have VERY low disease pressure. Anyone use elemental sulfur?

Can it be mixed with dormant oil like lime sulfur? I've seen a couple websites that say it is ok to mix as long as the trees are dormant. Other say never use within 30 days of oil, but I've seen the same thing said for lime sulfur, which is safe as long as the trees is dormant.

I was finally able to find a bottle of LS at a local nursery, the clerk told me that they were not getting any more and also blamed the EPA.

My curiosity got the better of me so I did a little "google research" and came up with a plausible explanation about the lack of LS in retail stores. It's actually quite disturbing.

According to Wikipedia, "Lime Sulfur in combination with HCL as found in toilet bowl cleaners has been used, primarily in Japan, as a means to commit "detergent" suicide."

I found a few websites that say this is catching on in the US and Bonide and Lilly Miller have canceled their EPA certification and no longer distribute the product due to its misuse. There are many blogs / websites with people asking where to buy these products and how they should be mixed / (mis)used. I stopped at that point... TMI.

I hope this is not true, this is an effective product and I don't want it to end up like sudafed.