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Ctpumpkin@optonline.net

3 calls already today....from Professionals no less! JEEZ!

I get about 30-50 cell phone calls a day this time of year (No, I don't answer them all!). That's good since the vast majority are from people who I spent time with over the winter & now they are spending money.

But....

The biggest frustration right now is a barrage of calls from commercial applicators looking for organic fungicides.

Some stupid garden magazine must have published an article about using organic fungicides & one of the recommendations calls for COPPER SPRAYS.

COPPER fungicides (sulfate, hydroxide, etc) are NOT organic!!!

Copper is METALIC! It is also very dangerous to mammals, persists in the environment & is tough on the plants it is sprayed on. WHAT ARE THESE PEOPLE THINKING???

Home brews -

Commercial applicators cannot legally use & I cannot legally sell any sort of non-registered brews of any kind to repel, prevent, control or otherwise mitigate any pest of any kind. If money changes hands, then current Federal & State EPA Registration numbers must have been issued or the sale is a violation of law. Some do work. But they cannot be labeled as "controls" without a registration number.

Please remember when cruising those garden magazines that just because someone says that a product is organic doesn't mean that it really is. And if it is organic this doesn't gurantee the products safety or efficacy. Likewise some author saying it works doesn't mean that it does. These authors are paid by their bosses who are paid by their avdertisers to say nice stuff about their products.

Anthrax & E-Coli are organic but they're still not good for us.

4/13/2006 11:02:39 AM

Ctpumpkin@optonline.net

JMS Organic Stylet Oil isn't really organic. It is a highly refined Mineral oil. But it is registered by OMRI Listed as a "bio-pesticde" & it works well for Powdery Mildew & Aphids. It also happens to be legal for use on Cucurbits.

http://www.cdms.net/ldat/ld5QF002.pdf

4/13/2006 1:14:08 PM

Ctpumpkin@optonline.net

.

M-Pede is a Soap (remember Safer Corp?) that also controls Powdery Mildew & a raft of soft bodied insects. Dow Agroscience doesn't bother paying for the OMRI logo but this is still a Federally approved bio-pesticide.

http://www.cdms.net/ldat/ld624004.pdf

.

4/13/2006 1:19:19 PM

Sloughhouse, CA

Thanks Tremor for all your input.

4/13/2006 2:32:25 PM

Cornwall UK.(50N 5W)300ft.

The Organic farming movement continues to grow in this part of the world,they gotta get their inputs somewhere.

4/13/2006 6:00:59 PM

Garden State Pumpkins

Paramagnetism courtesy of the Dirt Doctor!

4/13/2006 6:41:18 PM