"MythBusters Challenge" - Azatrol vs. Take Down Garden Spray
 

After several years of virtually pest-free gardening, this Season our entire region has been hit by a "Triple-Whammy" of Aphids, Psyllids, and Tomato Russet Mites. While individually, natural Beneficials may have been able to control them, not so this year. The EarthTainer "Farm" went from Lush, to this today:

[IMG]http://i1005.photobucket.com/albums/af179/rnews/IMG_0238.jpg[/IMG]

Plants were healthy and robust a month ago, and most have been mauled by these three pests:

[IMG]http://i1005.photobucket.com/albums/af179/rnews/IMG_0254.jpg[/IMG]

After evaluating synthetic based Insecticides like Permethrin and their residual toxicities, I've written off using them and have found two candidate products that appear to be less lethal:

[IMG]http://i1005.photobucket.com/albums/af179/rnews/IMG_0248.jpg[/IMG]

They appear to be aimed at Aphids, Spider Mites, and Psyllids, (among other insects) and in the case of Take Down Garden Spray, may be used up until day of harvest, which was not at all the case with Permethrin.

Here is a summary of each:

[B]Take Down Garden Spray[/B] is a mixture of pyrethrins and canola oil which can be used to control a wide range of insects during the dormant and growing seasons. The unique combination of pyrethrins and canola oil has a dual effect which helps to control both adult and juvenile insects.
Take Down Garden Spray will kill the following insect pests: aphids, beetles (including flea beetle, Japanese beetles, asparagus beetle) caterpillars (including gypsy moth caterpillars, tent caterpillars, leafrollers, diamond back moth larva) ants, mealy bugs, mites, leafhoppers, scale insects, whitefly, adelgids, plant bugs, fungus gnats, thrips, sawfly larva, psyllids, spittlebugs and phylloxera.

$15.00 Pint Concentrate

[B]Azatrol[/B] is a broad spectrum botanical product for control of insects and mites on indoor and outdoor ornamental plants, shrubs, flowers, garden vegetables, fruit and nut trees. Azatrol offers an array of effects by acting as a repellent, anti-feedant, insect growth regulator and ovipositioning deterrent. As a molting inhibitor, it prevents insect larvae from developing into adults. Insects will feed less or not at all on treated foliage, ultimately starving to death, they will also fail to mature and reproduce. This complexity also makes it impossible for an insect's resistance to develop - Low odor and OMRI listed.

$58.00 Pint Concentrate

Since they appear to have different methods of killing off the pests, I am going to trial half of my (remaining) garden with each one, to see which is more effective.

While the Peppers and Cukes are doing well, I am noticing Psyllid "sugar" on the Pepper leaves, and some Aphids on the Cuke leaves:

[IMG]http://i1005.photobucket.com/albums/af179/rnews/IMG_0240.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i1005.photobucket.com/albums/af179/rnews/IMG_0255.jpg[/IMG]

Coincidently, the local radio station said yesterday that this is the coolest Summer on Record in San Jose this year, going back more than 100 years. I am readying new seedlings to plant this coming week, as I should have a decent crop for the Fall. Let the Games begin....

Raybo:evil:

Raybo, when the damage gets that bad, I always reach for my trusty "Malathion". A mixture of that and liquid "Sevin" when accompanied by a liberal quantity of DDT will always get the job done. :)

Ted

When it's that bad, I just grab the can of charcoal lighter and a match...

[quote=ContainerTed;179936]Raybo, when the damage gets that bad, I always reach for my trusty "Malathion". A mixture of that and liquid "Sevin" when accompanied by a liberal quantity of DDT will always get the job done. :)

Ted[/quote]

Ted,

I am trying to approach this with an abundance of caution, as I don't want anyone that I give away the tomatoes to, to become sick, etc. DDT scares the heck out of me, from recollection of what it did to the bird population decades ago. Maybe it has been reformulated, but my hope is that either of these two products (Azatrol or Take Down) will do the job, with minimum side effects.

My error in this whole thing was waiting too long before attacking the insects. Won't happen again when I am armed with the proper counter-measure!!

Raybo

[quote=mjc;179940]When it's that bad, I just grab the can of charcoal lighter and a match...[/quote]
When it's that bad I grab the Debit card and head off to Whole Foods.

OK fellas, I appreciate the "joke", but here's todays picking from some of the unaffected plants, so I don't think I'll be going to Whole Foods for a while:

[IMG]http://i1005.photobucket.com/albums/af179/rnews/IMG_0261.jpg[/IMG]

What I was [I][B]really[/B][/I] hoping was that someone had hands-on experience with either of these two products.

Raybo

WOW....... That 1st and 2nd picture is very sad Raybo :cry: I am confident that you will make a strong comeback with your next plantings >>>>>>>>>>>Talon

Just finished my first spraying this evening, after the bees had left for the night. Did half the plants with Azatrol, and the other half with Take Down. Also, split the PepperTainers in half, with each group getting sprayed. I'm hoping the Take Down will be as effective as the Azatrol, as it is $1.00 per ounce, while the Azatrol is $4.00 per ounce.:dizzy:

I'll post some photos in a few days to document effectiveness of the two products.

Raybo

I've never used either product. However, I have used a product called Pyganic, which is a highly concentrated pyrethrin (it's $$, but a little goes a very long way). Works great on mites and aphids.

Also, I think feldon has had good results with Green Light Fruit Tree Spray, which is pyrethrins and neem oil.

Point is -- since Take Down has pyrethrins in it, it should definitely help with your mite and aphid problem. I'll be interested to see if it takes care of the psyllids as well.

I have used Fertilome Fruit Tree Spray which is Neem oil and pyrethrins and it is very effective on aphids but not as good on mites. Permethrin in a strong soapy spray is better and malathion is even better but I rarely have to resort to it. I have sprayed for spider mites twice this year and used permethrin in a very soapy water mix and it was effective.
Raybo it seems that what is effective in the Azatrol is the insect growth regulator. Many IGRs can be used in con★★★★★★★★ with a poison like permethrin for a double whammy. If I had mites as bad as you, I think I would definitely use them both on all of my plants. I am considering using an IGR with poison to try to control whiteflies if they get as bad as last year.

I will also be interested in the results. So far I have not been able to find any product that works well against aphid infestation on my pepper plants. Hopefully, one of these will be the answer.

Alex

b54red,

As these two products seem to have different characteristics, I do intend to alternate their use weekly next Spring. This "anti-feedant" property of Azatrol seems quite interesting.

As these bugs (with the exception of the Aphids) are quite stationary, it is tough to determine if you've killed them or not. The Azatrol says it takes about 5 days to have them die from not eating anymore. I guess health of the leaves will be the best indicator over time.

Not much fun in loosing most of your crop after working months and months on seedlings, planting, etc. but I just want to understand the best corrective action so I can prevent it from repeating and hopefully, others can benefit from this experience as well.

Raybo

Azadirachtin (active ingredient in Azatrol) is made from neem
trees, extracted from either the oil or leaves (a lot higher
concentration of it in the oil, but the leaves are a lot cheaper
than the seeds if a company just needs the azadirachtin and
not the whole neem oil product, so it could have been
manufactured from either source).

Does anyone know something cheap I can use to get rid of MEALY BUGS, it seems I have a huge infestation, of those and whiteflies I have tried DE, and Saturday I sprayed with a combo of pyrethrin, neem, and Organicide (that is the brand name, it is Canola oil and fish oil) which leads me to another question, couldn't I just use Canola oil? Why do I need to pay $10 for a pint of Canola oil?
So I checked today, and the infestation is still really bad. Meanwhile I am losing my plants.
It is hard to spray all areas because they are just so big. The plants are coming out of the top of my 7 ft tall cages.
HELP!, oh yeah, I am completely broke so I cannot really go spend a lot of money of solutions.
I do still have some insecticide here, but do not want to resort to that.

desert,

Still very early in my evaluation of these two products, but as of today, the Take Down Garden Spray seems to be quite effective in killing my Aphids, Spider Mites, and Psyllids. At $16.00 for a pint of concentrate that will make 16 gallons of spray, I think it is a pretty good deal. I saw it today at a local Nursery, so I would think it is widely available here in the West.

[IMG]http://i1005.photobucket.com/albums/af179/rnews/IMG_0247.jpg[/IMG]

Raybo