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ljkewlj

Bonide just came out with a new fruit tree spray?

ljkewlj
9 years ago

Hi everyone

Don't know if it is just me but I don't remember seeing this on their website last year. It is called Fruit Tree & Plant Guard.

Lambda-Cyhalothrin, Boscalid and Pyraclostrobin. This goof proof water based combination is economical, versatile and has a very broad sprectrum. Only 2 oz. / gal. treats not only a comprehensive listing of fruit, but also nuts, flowers, shrubs and ornamentals.

It says not to use more then 4 applications on pome fruits per year and not more then 5 applications on stone fruits per year, is this something new or have I just missed it? Anyone know anything about this or can comment on it? MSDS and Label posted below.

http://www.bonide.com/lbonide/msds/msds2011.pdf
http://www.bonide.com/lbonide/backlabels/l2011.pdf

Thanks
Lance

Comments (12)

  • drew51 SE MI Z5b/6a
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Yes it is new, I just heard an interview with a Bonide spokesman. He said it used to be commercial only. Mentioned it was good for just about every tree one can grow.

  • alan haigh
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    That is remarkable, homegrowers now have a product available that has the ability to control both the most common fungal and insect pests of stonefruit AND pomes. The problem is that with both together you need to apply an insecticide at times you may only need a fungicide and vise versa, which is problematic. It would be a good product for early season sprays in my region, though.

    The insecticide is a pyrethroid similar to Triazide and one of the fungicides is what had previously only been available as Pristine, which attacks brown rot in stone fruit as well as apple diseases.

    I hope Olpea comments on this product- it's a bit of a break through for home growers.

  • olpea
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I applaud the move. There is no reason backyard orchardists in high pressure disease/insect areas shouldn't have the same tools as commercial growers. This is especially true for something like Pristine, which is a reduced-risk fungicide.

    The Lambda-cyhalothrin "Warrior" insecticide component of the spray is not new in a homeowner formulation. Triazicide introduced a Warrior formulation few years ago for home grown vegetables, but not home grown fruit.

    The only down side I can see is the labeling for ornamental trees and flowers. I think most of the urban abuse of chemicals comes from landscape and lawn usage.

    I completely agree with Hman a drawback is the combo of fungicide pre-mixed w/ the insecticide. Art Agnello just got through writing a thoughtful article in "Scaffods" about manufactures more commonly releasing pre-mixes. It's unfortunate for the reason Hman mentioned, but it's good for sales, so it's becoming more popular.

    It will be interesting to see if the dosage of the Bonide product is the same as commercial guidelines. I'll try to check on that later.

  • olpea
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    For anyone interested, I've had a chance to compare labeled rates of the Bonide product vs. the commercial counterparts.

    In the past some have complained pesticides formulated for backyard orchardists have lower rates of application of active ingredient than the same compounds formulated for ag. I was interested if the rates were the same in this case.

    The answer is yes. Well, sort of.

    Bonide label states mixing at 2 fl.oz. of Bonide per gallon of water and spray to the point of runoff. Spraying Bonide on a fruit tree to the point of run-off will apply vastly more compound than what would be applied commercially via the Warrior label. Like 5X more active ingredient in a home orchard vs. the same active ingredient in a commercial setting per land area.

    This had me scratching my head until I read the Bonide label further. They qualify by saying, "Spray leaf surfaces to the point of drip, but do not exceed 2 fl. oz. of this product per 1,500 sq. ft." (emphasis added)

    That's the kicker. It would be impossible to spray to the point of drip mixing at 2 fl.oz. per gallon and spraying that gallon to cover 1500 sq.ft. of trees. The two would be contradictory, or mutually exclusive events. As an example, a tree with a 20' spread (large tree) covers an area of 316 sq. ft. The label assumes one will be able spray almost 5 large trees (4.77 trees more precisely) to the point of run-off with one gallon of spray. Not going to happen.

    The direction to mix 2 fl.oz of Bonide/gallon and apply at one gallon of spray solution per 1500 sq.ft will apply roughly the same amount of active ingredient per land area, as the Warrior label (although slightly on the lower range of the Warrior label). However if folks spray to the point of drip (as a lot of homeowners are going to do when they read the label) much much more active ingredient will be applied than is necessary.

    I ran through the same numbers with the fungicide component of the Bonide spray and came up with the same result. Spraying at one gal. of spray solution per 1500 sq. ft. gives the same active ingredients as Pristine, on an area basis, but spraying Bonide to the point of drip will apply a lot more active ingredient to the foliage vs. commercial applications.

    Lastly, as an FYI, I'm reprinting part of Dr. Agnello's comments about pre-mixes from the last issue of Scaffolds below:

    "Like most university extension entomologists, I have expressed concern in the past over the proliferation of these pre-mixes in the marketplace, as I feel that growers are better off deciding for themselves what products should be mixed in their tanks, and when. Furthermore, I think that pre-mixed product combinations make it too easy to abuse the active ingredients by overusing them when both may not be strictly necessary. This not only promotes a higher risk of resistance development in the pest population, but adds to the complexity of juggling rates to achieve equivalent
    levels of pest control, since a spray of a pre-mix product containing A + B may not be the same as the amount of either A or B contained in their respective single-a.i. products. Moreover, the added challenge of having to observe different seasonal maximum uses for each product is enough to cause a grower to start seeing double and inadvertently making mistakes.

    'Naturally, agrichemical companies love pre-mixes because they seem to make sense from a sales point of view, and I have yet to see sound biological arguments ever win out against the forces of marketing, so it's a sure bet that there will continue to be more of these products introduced into the market as time goes on."

    Here is a link that might be useful: Scaffolds - Vol. 23, No.4

  • ltilton
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    The problem comes when such products are ONLY readily available to home growers in the pre-mix version.

  • Chris-7b-GA
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    HM, you mentioned this product may be a good early season spray, are you saying that it should probably only be applied prebloom? Would it make sense in areas of high fungal disease pressure to include this product in a rotation with other fugal sprays?

  • alan haigh
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Chris, no, what I'm saying is that here in southern NY it is a foregone conclusion you will be using both a pesticide and fungicide at petal fall and 10 to 14 days later capable of controlling the pests that this formulation should be well able to control. Later (like the second week of July) you may only need the fungicide part of the formulation to control brown rot in stone fruit which leaves you with only Monterey Fungus Fighter with a more modern formulation that will not risk excessive execution of your beneficials by spreading insecticide when it is not needed.

    Further south you may need to continue the application of insecticides later into the season so this might not be a problem, although depending on a pyrethroid can lead to problems in itself because they kill most anything crawls or flies on a fruit tree without feathers.

    Cornell discourages there use all together as a general insecticide and suggests they be used for stink bugs and emergency situations only because of the toll they take on beneficials.

  • mrsg47
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Olpea! Thanks so much for doing the homework. I will try this spray. I really don't like to fix what isn't broken, as my Immunox and Triaz. spray combo really works. Along with adding (in a different tank) Monterey FF later. I'll have a designated tank for this spray and see what happens. Thanks so much, Mrs. G

  • ltilton
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I might try this on my plums, that always seem to get a late curculio infestation right when most vulnerable to brown rot.

  • ltilton
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Just back from the garden center. They didn't have the product. They said it was very expensive and they didn't think it would sell.

  • alan haigh
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    It does seem almost unobtainable. Stark Bros carries it and they are charging a fortune for it.

    I don't use Pristine much because even in the commercial packaging it is extremely expensive- but paying $25 for enough material to make 8 gallons seems absurd.

    Here is a link that might be useful: Starks source for it

  • ltilton
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Amazon doesn't have it at all.