Page 13 - Griffin Gazette Issue 1 - 2021
P. 13
CHOOSE SPRAYS THAT ARE MORE
COMPATIBLE WITH YOUR
BE MINDFUL OF WHERE YOUR SPRAYS DESIRED BCAS
ARE TARGETED AND WHERE
YOUR BCAS LIVE Sprays with biologically-derived active ingredients often
present fewer compatibility issues with many BCA
With the exception of systemic products, most pesticide products. Insecticidal fungi such as B. bassiana or
sprays essentially stay where you spray them. Foliar BCAs I. fumosorosea represent effective treatments for aphids
will be less bothered by drench applications; soil-level BCAs and other common indoor grow pests when combined with
stay separate from your foliar sprays. Strategic application azadirachtin, while presenting no to mild toxicity issues for
choices help growers to maintain healthy BCA populations beneficial insects.
while still incorporating sprays into their rotations. That
being said, spray drift from neighboring crops in the same
production area has the potential to affect nearby, unsprayed
crops or BCAs.
CHANGE YOUR SPRAY FREQUENCY
Scheduling is also an important component of a successful
pest management program. Using BCAs does not mean that
sprays need to be eliminated entirely. If you are still looking
to use less-compatible sprays, using them as hot spot
treatments is a common strategy many growers employ.
Hot spots represent situations where pest populations have
BE AWARE OF THE MODE OF ACTION grown higher than BCAs alone can deal with. Growers can
(MOA) AND CHEMICAL TYPE then choose to cease BCA application for a short period of
OF YOUR SPRAYS time, during which they apply one to three applications of
an appropriate spray. These spray applications help knock
Some MOAs are highly species specific, while others have down the pest population to a point where BCAs can once
broad-spectrum efficacy. Some classes of chemicals again regain control
in particular have great impacts on BCAs, such as
pyrethroids, organophosphates, and carbamates. Oxidizers Whether cutting back on sprays for environmental, worker
and suffocants, though effective pesticides, will also health, or consumer demand reasons, BCAs offer an effective
affect BCAs right alongside your pests. When possible, supplement and preventative alternative to many light spray
choose insecticidal products that are more species programs. As discussed above, spray programs do not have
specific, or where compatibility data is readily available. to be all or nothing; making strategic changes to various
Azadirachtin products such as Azatin O, for example, components in a spray program can quickly and relatively
target specific insect life cycle activities. When drenched painlessly result in a more BCA-friendly routine.
into the soil, Azatin O specifically target insects that molt,
such as aphids and thrips pupae, leaving other soil-level
BCAs such as Hypoaspis miles unaffected.
GRIFFIN GAZETTE 2021 | 13