Since Jason and I started the Enviroselects.com website, we have constantly been on the look out for new ways to reach out to folks that are living an organic lifestyle. In our pursuits, we came across a website called Mother Earth News and have since done some advertising on their website.
Although I am sure many of you are already familiar with this very informative publication, some of you may not know about all of the great services they offer for their internet readers.
Of particular interest to us was the fact that they offer several free advice columns including do it yourself and how to guides, vegetable garden planners, a renewable energy section, and many other informative columns and services. They also have several news letters that you can sign up to receive regular relevant and current information on the environmentally-friendly topics you are interested in.
This publication got started back in 1970 and now has over 450,000 subscribers to their printed magazine , making it one of the most read publications on organic living in the world today. With the trust of this many regular readers you can be assured that they know their market and what their readers want. If you haven’t checked out their website lately, I would encourage you to give it a look.
Working with a chlorine-based product can be hazardous. Just recently approximately 300 people at Tyson Foods in Arkansas had to be evacuated from their processing plant and 100 people were sent to hospital after coming into contact with chlorine gas. Click here to read the full article
Enviroselects offers safe Chlorine alternatives that can be used in organic operations yet are powerful and effective:
As fall draws near there are endless home cleaning projects that come up. As I was working on cleaning algae off of my father-in-law’s vinyl siding I was reminded of this video we shot last fall.
We used the eco-friendly GreenCleanFX Moss, Mold & Mildew (MMM) to effectively remove algae, moss, mildew and other bacterial buildup from a variety of surfaces including roof tiles (moss was most stubborn, requiring a repeat treatment), concrete surfaces, driveways and this grape trellis. The great thing is that it works on multiple surfaces and yet is safe for plants and animals.
If you need a hand with some eco-friendly cleaning this fall, we encourage you to make it easier & greener with GreenCleanFX MMM!
Check out a recent newsletter, highlighting the topic of effective pest control and featuring Spotted Wing Drosophila, which has caused much devastation in the soft fruit industry.
Bleach is a strong irritant, frequently linked to newly-acquired asthma. A recent decision by Compass Children’s Center in San Francisco to use exclusively “bleach-free” cleaning products resulted in visibly less asthmatic symptoms in both children and childcare workers.
According to the U.S. Department of Health – National Institutes of Health (NIH), asthma affects more than 25 million people in the United States and over 230 million people worldwide. As asthma typically begins in early childhood, the NIH is committed to reducing environmental risk factors in children in order to prevent asthma before it begins.
On the forefront of asthma prevention, the San Francisco Asthma Task Force in a 2011 report on Bleach Exposure in Child Care Settings, discovered a high correlation between bleach exposure and work-related new-onset asthma cases as well as the exacerbation of pre-existing asthma conditions. As a result they set about field-testing various sanitizers and initially recommended a number of bleach-free disinfectant and sanitizer alternatives.
Food Contact Sanitizer Recommended
In late April 2012 the task force issued an interim update to the 2011 report with the discovery of an accelerated hydrogen peroxide sanitizer, SaniDate Ready-to-Use (RTU) Hard Surface Sanitizer. This sanitizer can be used directly on food-contact surfaces and as a fruit & vegetable wash, requiring only 1 minute contact time to eliminate over 99.9% of bacteria and human health pathogens.
SaniDate RTU was also recently approved by San Francisco Department of Public Health as a bleach-alternative sanitizer for food-contact surfaces and to date three City agencies have purchased SaniDate RTU in support of the Asthma Task Force’s project.
The following video features the story of Compass Children’s Center in San Francisco and the lives of children in poverty that are being affected for the positive by reducing and preventing asthma through their transition to a bleach-free environment.
SaniDate Ready-to-Use Hard Surface Sanitizer is available for retail or volume purchase through EnviroSelects LLC.
Spring has sprung here in the northwest! Greatful to see some sun and buds, we are also excited about the arrival of our new AzaGuard RTU product, the retail version of our organic neem-based insecticide and repellant.
This week a customer us with the question of how to control Codling Moth in his apple orchard. As we have resources much more informed than I at our disposal, we decided to call in the big guns, aka “Vijay the pathologist”, to give us an orientation of exactly when and how to control this pest with AzaGuard or AzaGuard RTU.
Q. Vijay, I didn’t see codling moth specifically listed on the label – would Azaguard be effective against this caterpillar?
A. AzaGuard is effective on most larvae and should cover codling moth worms as well.
Q. Is there any other way than a pre-planting application to best take advantage of Azaguard’s systemic properties? Or will foliar applications deliver this as well?
A. AzaGuard can be systemic when applied to root system and foliage. However, for larvae control, it’s the contact mode rather than systemic mode that’s more important. Proper timing of foliage and fruit application is a key for codling moth larvae control. It’s important to have the AzaGuard applied repeatedly just as eggs are hatching because once larvae drills into the fruit, it cannot be managed. Apply AzaGuard @ 16 fl.oz per 100 gallons per acre, 3-4 times during the first spring generation at 7-10 day interval followed by 2-3 applications during summer generations using the same rate and application interval. If the pest pressure is high, use 22.5 fl.oz per 100 gallons per acre and rotate with products like Spinosad. Addition of commercial horticultural oil @ 0.5% v/v (Ex. For 1.0 gallon of AzaGuard spray solution, use 0.64 fl.oz of oil)
will be more effective. Test for phytotoxicity with oils by spraying a small section first before large scale use. Also combine chemical treatment with non-chemical treatments such as general sanitation (removing and destroying damaged fruit to prevent additional generations of moths), using moth traps, fuit bagging etc.
Q. Would you recommend staggering applications of Azaguard & OxiDate / OxiDate RTS?
A. I would recommend spraying OxiDate first followed by AzaGuard as two separate applications.
So there you have it. Wishing our orchard customers some tasty apples to feast on this season!
However, what if (as one of the commenting posts challenges the writer) instead of buying organic apples, you decide to grow your own? Are we really relegated to eating disease-ridden, wormy apples? Are conventional and copper fungicides the only options a grower has to combat apple disease?
Thankfully, organic growers now have powerful alternatives for preventing and combating rusts, apple scab and powdery mildew diseases with non-residual chemistries such as OxiDate and OxiDate RTS. Pest control can be achieved with our neem-based insecticides such as AzaGuard / AzaGuard RTU. Our new NOP-compliant (National Organic Program) AXXE broad-spectrum herbicide helps complete the organic grower’s arsenal for producing healthy, appetizing fruits and vegetables.
Cheers to fear-free apple growing and consumption!
An increasing number of home gardeners are looking for solutions to soil-borne diseases such as Verticillium (maple) wilt. In trees Verticillium can be hard to diagnose as symptoms are often confused with other causes such as drought stress or compacted soil. If the tree is exhibiting die-back of branches or leaf scorch there may be a possibility that these symptoms could be caused by Verticillium. To make a sure determination of the cause of the symptoms make a slanted cut in the affected branch below where the tree is wilted or scorched. Discoloration of vascular tissue (olive-green streaks) in the wood will indicate the presence of Verticillium wilt. To prevent further spread of the disease in the tree, some sources recommend removing the infected limbs.
Treatment & Prevention
In order to prevent the spread of Verticillium to other trees and plants we recommend the following treatment. As Verticillium spreads through the soil and root-to-root contact, ZeroTol Ready-to-Spray (RTS) can be applied as a preventative application. Make a strong solution with of 1 part RTS solution to 25 parts water (1:25) and soak the root zone. Repeat with 1-2 additional applications in a 7-14 day interval. Alternatively Zerotol 2.0 can be applied at a 1:50 solution. Keep the tree well-watered during dry periods to help the tree recover from the disease.
Plant diseases can be grouped into 3 main microscopic categories: bacterial, viral and fungal. Here is some information to keep in mind about these common plant diseases and the preventative steps that can be taken to defend against them.
Fungi
The most common plant diseases one encounters in the garden are those brought on by fungi and fungus-like organisms. The fungi reproduce via the production of spores that may be spread long distances by air or water, or they may be soil borne.
Proper watering techniques and drainage are an important preventative defense since many of the fungi that cause plant diseases thrive in moist conditions. Fungal diseases can be controlled through the use of fungicides in agriculture, however new races of fungi often evolve that are resistant to many conventional fungicides.
Alternatively, fungicides like OxiDate use a chemical reaction that oxidizes enzymes and proteins that make up simple cell organisms, on contact. As the oxidation happens very quickly and leaves no residual chemical, the disease has no opportunity to mutate and form resistance.
Bacterial diseases can occur within houseplants and greenhouse-grown varieties, but are more common in outdoor plants. This is partly due to the fact that many types of bacteria that infect plants are often transmitted by insects that create a wound in the plant, allowing the bacteria to get inside. Several types of parasites like whiteflies, scale and aphids can act as carriers of the bacteria, which is transmitted to the plant when the insects feed on it. Bacteria can also be transmitted by pruning equipment shared between infected and non-infected plants.
A two-pronged approach to bacterial prevention would include include controlling the parasites with a natural insecticide like AzaGuard. Plant wounds can be treated for bacteria using a foliar spray like OxiDate (for food crops) or ZeroTol (for ornamentals). These organic chemistries can be tank-mixed for ease of application.
Viruses
Viruses, like bacterial infections, require an opening in the plant through which the virus can get past the cell’s rigid cell wall. Humans can transmit plant viruses via grafting and parasites can also act as carriers of the virus. Unlike bacteria, viruses actually infiltrate the plant’s cells, and then replicate themselves to create more infected cells. Since the virus lives inside the plant’s cells, there is no way of removing a virus without destroying the plant cells in the process, making chemical treatments futile.
Normally plant viruses only cause a loss of crop yield. Therefore it is not economically viable to try to control them, the exception being when they infect perennial species such as fruit trees.
The US EPA has approved a newly expanded label for BioSafe Systems’ AzaGuard Botanical Insecticide/Nematicide, including expanded use rates, new pests, and two new use sites.
AzaGuard’s use rates have been expanded to allow for a greater treatment range and better efficacy against strong infestations. In some cases, these expanded rates represent a doubling of the amount of AzaGuard used per acre of treated crops.
In addition to these expanded rates, several new use sites and pests have been added to the label. AzaGuard can now be applied to mushrooms and manure piles to treat for Mushroom flies, Nematodes, and Phorid flies. New pests for other food crops include grasshoppers and locusts, mites, and chafers. Other pest groups, including flies, moths, and grubs, have been expanded to include more sub-species.
AzaGuard is a 3% Azadirachtin insect growth regulator that is OMRI Listed for Organic Use, and can be tank mixed with other BioSafe Systems’ chemicals as part of a complete pesticide program. AzaGuard is available in 32 oz. Tip N’ Pour containers providing precise measurement, and also in a 1 gallon size for larger applications.
Although I am sure many of you are already familiar with this very informative publication, some of you may not know about all of the great services they offer for their internet readers.
This week a customer us with the question of how to control Codling Moth in his apple orchard. As we have resources much more informed than I at our disposal, we decided to call in the big guns, aka “Vijay the pathologist”, to give us an orientation of exactly when and how to control this pest with AzaGuard or AzaGuard RTU.
A recent article on Forbes online magazine explores 
