Gene Schurg wrote:
Rob,

It is interesting that you could be observing the same thing as I. Did you
spray or drench with the Bayer product? Did you water between applications
where the plants could suck up water without the chemicals?


I tried a drench (trash can and pump with hose) with just the bayer for
three consecutive weeks in early summer. That didn't work, or at least
not completely. When I added the IGR into the mix, it was applied as a
spray to the point of complete saturation of as much leaf surface as
possible (top and bottom), again for three consecutive weeks, within a
couple hours after watering the greenhouse in my normal way. I'm not
sure of the rationale of that, but I did have one. It made sense to
water before so that I wouldn't wash out chemical before it had a chance
to be absorbed, and I thought that perhaps the leaves would be more
actively transpiring right after a nice watering and more susceptible to
absorbing chemical.

Distance is supposed to have translaminar systemic activity (absorbed
through the leaves), which is one of the reasons I picked it. I don't
think EnstarII is systemic (I could be wrong). It is about the same
cost, but you have to buy a whole quart... They target the same pathway.

And actually, come to think of it, I used orthene instead of
imidocloprid for the first two weeks. Both have systemic activity. I
was worried that the bugs were becoming resistant to repeated
imidocloprid treatment, and I hadn't used orthene in a while. This way
I was hoping to get the resistant ones in the first two passes, and get
the longer residual of the imidocloprid on the last one. And orthene is
cheap... Probably a stupid idea.

--
Rob's Rules: http://littlefrogfarm.com
1) There is always room for one more orchid
2) There is always room for two more orchids
2a) See rule 1
3) When one has insufficient credit to obtain more
orchids, obtain more credit