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Ctpumpkin@optonline.net

Pour a fresh cup of coffee & pull up a chair. It is time for my annual diatribe on pesticide safety.

We're closing in fast on June 1st. Cucumber Beetles are already present in many areas & Squash Vine Borers aren't that far off. Ugly plant problems are already showing up in diaries.

Last year I was asked to look at a lot of photographs of "foliar diseases". I enjoy helping folks troubleshoot issues as time permits. But digital photos alone rarely provide enough information to draw accurate conclusions.

About 60-70% of the time, further questioning revealed that Sevin &/or Daconil had been sprayed in the 5 days prior to the "infection" & every indication was that the grower had "followed the label" or "only used a little bit" & had applied "a few days ago". Oh yeah? How about temperature in the following hours, time & rate?

So let's all remember the finer points of "spray etiquette & safety" before we dive in this year. We spend a lot of time & money selecting seeds & preparing our patches. Let's not lose our "Seasonal Labor of Love" in the few minutes it takes to burn our plants or land someone in the hospital.

5/24/2004 11:30:34 AM

Ctpumpkin@optonline.net

>>READ THE ENTIRE LABEL! Then do it again. Do this with every single thing you spray especially if it's been more than 10 days since you last used it.

>>Wear all Personal Protective Equipment indicated therein. I don't give a Rat's butt if it is a bother or it's too hot to be comfortable. If it's that hot, maybe we shouldn't be spraying at all.

>>Get in front of pest problems. It's true that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. As a for instance, when a fungicide works properly, we see absolutely nothing happen. Nothing at all. Hard to grasp huh? But fungicides don't make brown leaves turn green. And Insecticides don't fill the holes in leaves back up again. So know the enemy well, form a plan, and then work the plan.

>>If you need help, get it. Network with local growers or trained professional agronomy experts. Local Ag-Stations & schools are in the phone book. Many programs are tax-payer provided. Get our money's worth. Keep in mind that growing Atlantic Giants is like an "Extreme Sport". The normal rules of agronomy do not apply at the competitive level.

>>Be careful taking the advice of the high school kids working at the Home Depot or other local garden center. They might mean well & know where something is. But are they really your best resource? Maybe. But find out for sure. I've listened to seemingly credible adults as they've given inaccurate recommendations at all levels of plant health care both retail & commercial. Get second opinions when you're not entirely sure. Ask to see professional certificates from State regulatory agents. By law, we have to disclose this stuff, but no one ever asks.

5/24/2004 11:31:05 AM

Ctpumpkin@optonline.net

>>Keep a clipboard with a calendar on it. Record the date, time, temperature, product, pest, & rate used every time you spray anything. Excel is a good place to track this too, but keep a paper backup just in case. I keep a cheat sheet of rates taped to the back of my clipboard so I don't have to fumble with the full text label every time I mix. But read the text label in the house anyway. ALL OF IT.

>>I engage in a weekly "low dose" program so I have developed a habit. This why I can't forget how many days old my last application is even if it is written down & I can't find it. All I adjust is the rates & what I'm spraying. The spray day is always the same unless it is raining right on that day. Routines should be simple for those of us with hectic professional schedules & domestic obligations.

>>Use clean dedicated accurate measuring devices & not the "glug glug" method. Warrior, Scimitar, etc are best measured using clean new medical syringes. Even a small deviation is big error when the rate per gallon is LESS THAN TWO MILLILITERS. I hear guys say they can eyeball this in a teaspoon. Yeah - Right! There are 4.9 mls in 1 Teaspoon. A quarter Teaspoon is therefore 1.2 mls. Who wants to wager the season on eyeballing this? A mere 30% deviation of this quantity is only .36 mls. I can't see how anyone could ever notice this deviation in a piece of kitchen flatware.

>>Real Teaspoons from the kitchen are for stirring tea. Buy accurate measuring devices & keep them just for pesticides in your locked & labeled pesticide storage area. NEVER use the wife's cooking utensils. She'll get mad even if you don't poison the family.

5/24/2004 11:31:31 AM

Ctpumpkin@optonline.net

>>Store measuring devices only after "triple rinsing" into the sprayer. I prefer to use the wife’s discarded Rubbermaid container to store them in. But only after writing "DANGER - PESTICIDES" on them with a Sharpie.

>>Storage. Let's try to store all pesticides in a locked steel cabinet that is clearly marked, dry, & cool. Commercial suppliers can often supply warning placards for free. I do, but they don't ship well. Contact a local resource.

>>Children. Show children aged about 5 & up where you store pesticides & tell them "NO" firmly. Answer questions in plain easy to understand terms. But *DO* communicate with them.

>>Most pesticide related "problems" occur during storage & mixing. Have all your "stuff" together before you start (including some clean rags) & work in a clutter free, well lit, & ventilated area while filling.

>>Gloves & goggles while measuring concentrates & filling are the bare minimum. Long pants & shirt are required while spraying. Launder these clothes separate from the family laundry. Commercial applicators are advised to run an extra rinse cycle in an empty machine before doing children’s clothes.

5/24/2004 11:32:06 AM

Ctpumpkin@optonline.net

>>Most Professional grade chemicals are labeled in a quantity of material per acre. Not "per gallon". Practice spraying straight water on a one thousand square foot area before spraying the real deal. Do this whenever a new sprayer, tip(s) or new chemical is to be employed for the first time. One acre = 43,560 sq. ft. Sometimes we need to convert Ounces per Acre into Mls per 1000 sq ft.

>> 3 oz per acre is (29.6 ml per oz times 3 oz = 89 mls divided by 43.56 = 2 mls per 1000 sq ft). Many folks apply 1 gallon of water to 1000 sq ft. But some of us (myself included) prefer to use 2 gallons of water per 1000 sq ft. So depending on our preferred delivery, the same 2mls will either go into 1 gallon or 2 gallons. The key is the same 2mls is still applied to the same 1000 sq ft regardless. We have to think this way to get good results safely & consistently.

>>As the vines grow & the canopy of leaves fills in, don't hesitate to recalibrate you sprayer using straight water again. It is perfectly natural to use more water on an area as that area becomes more densely vegetated & complex.

>>Don't spray in the morning if avoidable. Temperatures will be rising & bees are foraging. Spray in the evening whenever possible especially during flower.

>>If spraying in the morning, add 20-30*F to the current temperature, then decide if this is really still a good idea. Check the forecast for the anticipated high temperature at 1PM. That's the real temperature you're dealing with. The current ambient air temperature means SQUAT if the spray doesn't dry!

5/24/2004 11:32:37 AM

Ctpumpkin@optonline.net

>>Don't overspray to runoff if you can help it. The large drops at the leaf edges take longer to dry. And as they do dry, the concentration of chemical on the leaf edge goes way up. Have you ever seen a burnt leaf edge? Think about it for a minute. Better spray technique & the use of high quality surfactants can help remedy this situation.

>>Never never ever use a sprayer that contained herbicides. Buy a dedicated sprayer for the patch (&/or all ornamental insect & disease spraying like Roses). If you have one for Roundup as an example, mark it with an indelible marker with the words "ROUNDUP ONLY".

>>In a desperate pinch, herbicides *MIGHT* get cleaned out using a solution of bleach or ammonia (never both!) as long as an overnight soak of all rubber parts has taken place. This is NOT always 100% effective, especially with phenoxy herbicides & natural rubber parts.

>>Even the best quality hose end sprayers are not entirely accurate. Don't ask me about their settings. Even if I knew, I wouldn't say. No speak = no liability. Keep these for Fish, Seaweed, Compost Teas, etc. They vary too much for pesticides IMHO.

>>Never use a Hose-End-Sprayer at all if the hose bib (sill cock) you'll use isn't back-flow-preventer protected. However rare the circumstance, several people have been sickened &/or killed when a backflow condition sucked a pesticide back into the water pipes of their residence.

5/24/2004 11:33:11 AM

Ctpumpkin@optonline.net

>>Watch spraying in the wind. 5-10MPH is tough in some situations. Our wind breaks often cause strange air currents & eddies in the patch. This is just one more good reason to spray in the early evening when the wind has subsided.

>>Be especially cautious when using "Dusts". Keep the wind to your back & wear a NIOSH Paint & Pesticide Cartridge Respirator if you enjoy life. Better yet, don't use them at all. The better chemistries aren't even formulated this way.

>>We can combine insecticides & fungicides if they are compatible. Read BOTH labels. When in doubt - DON'T.

>>Did I mention to spray in the evening whenever possible? Bee kills & spray injury will be reduced.

>>Most sprays are effective if they have dried for an hour before rain. Though periods of high humidity may delay drying by many hours. That said, most systemic sprays will have worked by then & rain will have little to no impact on efficacy.

5/24/2004 11:33:45 AM

Ctpumpkin@optonline.net

>>If there is little to no pest activity, USE THE LOWER RATES!

>>Preventive sprays should always be made at the lowest rates. I sometimes use LESS than the lowest label rate 2 days apart to avoid damaging new growth. We are, after all trying to help our plants, not hurt them.

>>Use of high quality surfactants (Organosilicones are AWESOME) can make the low rates work better than the higher rates without surfactants. Get some & use it.

>>Rain doesn't wash properly applied pesticides away. The inert carrier residue might wash off. But sunlight is what causes 80% of the degradation regardless of rain. This is why certain active ingredients carry a 5-7 year termite residual when slab injected into the soil, but last only 3 or 4 weeks on foliage. Amazing huh? Don't reapply after every rain. It's wasteful & may be harmful to the environment & the plants.

>>Scouting with yellow sticky traps or pheromone traps are useful monitoring tools. Buy some. You might find that fewer sprays timed correctly works better than willy-nilly weekly sprays & saves some plant injury & money. Work the plan again.

>>During & after spraying do not eat, smoke, chew, pick your nose or scratch your butt until after you have washed your hands with soap & water.

>>No one is allowed present in or next to the patch while you spray. If they walk up & start chatting while you're spraying stop & don't move. You will forget where you left off if you spend 5 minutes talking about "the game". Ask them to give you a few more minutes to finish. It probably isn't as important as pumpkins anyway or they'd be in their own patch & not bothering you in yours.

5/24/2004 11:34:41 AM

Ctpumpkin@optonline.net

>>Sprays are most effective when applied to BOTH sides of the leaves. Powdery Mildew starts only on the bottom. So spraying the tops in this case, has almost no impact on control. Even with "systemics". Special tips are available for better sprayers that allow for upward spraying. Check with the supplier.

>>Empty ALL the material out of every sprayer every time. Spray the remaining contents out on another labeled crop if you have over-estimated the quantity needed. Don't keep hosing down the patch. Wash the sprayer with clear water before putting it away. Just running a few ounces of clear water through will keep valves & nozzles clean, accurate, & good working for next time.

>>Drain down the hose of compressed air sprayers. Remove the top to vent. Hold the wand at the highest point possible & depress the valve. All the spray material still in the hose will fall back into the tank. Now you can rinse with clear water.

>>Likewise, the next time it's used, that hose is not yet "charged" with the fresh spray material immediately. Spray a little on that alternative "other labeled crop" fist. Then move to the Giants.

Be safe & always read & follow all pesticide labels in their entirety. If you aren't sure, get help.

Thanks for listening. 12,200 characters is a lot of typing even for me! LOL

Steve

5/24/2004 11:35:30 AM

Kenyon, Mn.

An EXCELLENT Diatribe Steve, And Please, Everyone, DO NOT THINK FOR ONE MINUTE That YOU should (or) CAN Treat ORGANIC SOLUTIONS ANY DIFFERENTLY, What is IMPORTANT is that we all Make it out ALIVE!!!

5/24/2004 12:02:53 PM

Central Connecticut

I book marked this one for future reference too....good job Steve, How many words a minute do you type?...Chris

5/24/2004 12:40:22 PM

Pulaski Tn blkcloud@igiles.net

what???

5/24/2004 2:19:09 PM

Mastic Beach, New York

Thanks Steve for the lesson....billy

5/24/2004 2:45:26 PM

Ctpumpkin@optonline.net

I don't know anymore. I did it in Word first. Then pasted it here. Spell & Count checks are cool!

5/24/2004 2:47:04 PM

Menomonie, WI (mail@gr8pumpkin.net)

I think Ken or John should put this in the Odds and Ends, or the How To section.

5/24/2004 5:47:54 PM

Spanish Ontario

Great article STEVE you desirve a pat on the back every grower will sure take notice not only for themselves but for everyone around them once again GREAT JOB.
KEN

5/24/2004 7:09:08 PM

Garden State Pumpkins

Another great article....thanks steve...this should be added to the "How to" section for future reference and an annual read!!! thanks again!.....Chuck

5/25/2004 11:02:17 AM

Topsfield, Ma.

Thanks steve, it's appreciated!

5/25/2004 8:24:30 PM