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Santa Cruz, CA

Has anyone used Spinosad spray for cucumber beetles? Also does Potassium Bicarbonate work well for powdery mildew? Would the need for Humic acid show up on the soils test? How does it help exactly? How much Humic acid should be applied to a 3,000 foot patch?

4/15/2007 1:17:04 AM

Ontario, Canada.

Christine - Yes, potassium bicarbonate will work well against PM as a contact fungicides, and kill PM within minutes. In-fact it works even better than plain old baking soda. Armicarb 100, a potassium bicarbonate formulation, is used against PM and a similar product is sold under the name FirstStep by the W.A. Cleary Chemical Co. Other p bicarb products are Kaligreen and Remedy. They all need to be used with a good oil spreader sticker.

Humic acid, will not so how up on a soil test but the need to raise Cation exchange capacity (CEC). It has the ability to chelate positively charged ions of (Mg++, Ca++, Fe++, and most other "trace elements" needed by to plants. This chelation of ions is probably the most important role of humic acids. By chelating the ions, they facilitate or hold them for uptake of these ions. Humic acid, is the champion of natural products in boosting Cation exchange capacity

4/15/2007 5:56:55 AM

Ctpumpkin@optonline.net

Ditto Russ on the first two items.

Spinosad is a biological fermentatiom. I sell it to Arborists as CONSERVE where they spray it for Gypsy Moth, etc as a reduced risk treatment to control catepillars. For this it works well & I recommend it regularly.

ENTRUST is labeled for agriculture. It does a great job on Potato Beetles though not as good (according to university researchers) on Cucumber Beetles.

http://www.nysaes.cornell.edu/pp/resourceguide/mfs/13spinosad.php

I think that Spinosad should be started as early as the plants go out & reapplied frequently. It isn't fast but it does work.

4/15/2007 10:17:45 AM

Santa Cruz, CA

Do you think Spinosad would be considered organic? Are there heath issues that you know of? How about for Potassium Bicarbonate. Since I'm working with my son, I want to be as safe as possible. Thanks for the help.

4/15/2007 11:01:14 AM

Sheridan . NY

IF ITS TRUE ORGANIC YOU WILL SEE--> OMRI ON LABEL-->[ORGANIC.MATERIALS REVIEW INSTITUTE] ---There is a whole other side to whats organic and what natural inthe bussiness world---90% is not what it says on food and fertlizers and other things--look very closely--> for groups LIKE [OCIA--OR NOFA] I run a organic certfied farm its not easy---craig

4/15/2007 2:01:35 PM

Ctpumpkin@optonline.net

Entrust is OMRI Listed which isn't to say I would eat it. The original spinosin fungus was scraped off the bottom of wooden casks where Puerto Rican rum was aging in a cave. The whole rest of the rum distilery was infested with cockroaches, but not this one particular room. The sinosin-b fungus was killing them dead. Pretty cool.

http://www.cdms.net/LDat/ld62B023.pdf

4/15/2007 2:28:42 PM

Menomonie, WI (mail@gr8pumpkin.net)

So if I am reading Steve's comment right he wants us to make rum and store it in the pumpkin patch. Hmmmm maybe this is what the Dan guy up north is doing. He is always mentioning pirates and such.

4/20/2007 12:15:16 PM

Long Island,New York

For those of you who don't have the room to store stuff in your patches I offer a service where I will accept all the rum you can't store. I prefer the Captain but Myers works too. Fees are negociable.....

4/20/2007 1:52:01 PM

Ctpumpkin@optonline.net

Eye Laddie....ye bring enuff of dat rum & we won't make ye walk de blank!

4/20/2007 5:32:55 PM

President - GPC

Aye, so thats why the rum is always gone.......Rrgggg
Pirates of the North beware......

4/23/2007 9:48:02 AM