Within a day of the last spraying

==>>>> i doubt anything.. short of a flame thrower... works that fast ...

how cold was it.. the week prior ...

even a freeze doesnt work that fast ... the actual cell failure and damage showing days or weeks later ... unless it gets real hot ...

i suspect cold damage ... on the dearth of facts regarding such ...

its hard w/o a pic of two...

ken

ps: shall we presume this was properly diluted and properly applied.. you give no real facts about the application ....

It definitely wasn't cold damage to the plants. The cold spell was weeks before this happened, and the plants looked fine for the weeks following that. The plants that were affected where only those that were sprayed. It might have been 2 days after the spraying that I noticed all the dead leaves. A week later the plants were completely dead.

The Captain Jack's is a ready-to-use product -- no dilution is necessary. And as I said, this bottle had been used for a long time before this incident occurred.

I've included a picture of one of the plants that was hit.

Here's another.

There's nothing in that product that would kill your plants.

Suspect environmental problems. Think you missed something.

Such products can separate out over time or if stored improperly. Temperature extremes are one of primary causes of problems. Once that happens, it is possible that certain ingredients can become phytotoxic and damage can occur very quickly.

I think that this happens more often with pre-mixed products. Never use a chemical....organic or otherwise, that changes color or consistency.

Buy smaller amounts, use them up before the onset of winter, or store in a climate controlled location.

rhizo_1 - Thanks for your input. I see that you're a professional horticulturist, so it sounds like you've had some experience with this sort of thing. I wish we had noticed the change in color and odor before using the product. Good advice on storing it in a climate controlled location. I'll pass this along to our gardener.

Thanks again.

Yes! we were shocked when, after spraying our begonias and angelonias and geraniums with Captain jack's, all the plants died. Weeks before, the same spray was used on boxwoods with no problem. So sad. What happened? The company should explain or we'll never buy it again and we'll write reviews to warn others.

Reread the previous comments. There is nothing in the Captain Jack's that would cause that sort of damage to your plants!! The active ingredient is derived from a naturally occurring strain of bacteria. The bacteria has no ability to kill plants. But because it is a natural product, it can go bad or separate or lose effectiveness if stored improperly or too long. And Captain Jack's is not the only insecticide that contains spinosad.....the exact same substance is sold under various brand names.

It is more likely that the means and timing of the application - too much and at the wrong time of day - adversely affected your plants. Spraying plants exposed to sunlight during the daylight hours with just about anything other than clear water can cause a phytotoxic reaction.

If it's already diluted and it had changed color, it's possible something was growing in it, like bacteria. That could have changed the pH or some other parameter.

I always keep my concentrates in a cool dry place (basement in my case, never the hot/cold/hot/cold garage), and try to use up diluted products within a few days or a couple weeks. More to prevent degradation of the active ingredients through hydrolysis (reaction with water), but there's also the microbial growth issue.

I also had some of my succulents when I used Captain Jack's spray for spider mites die within weeks

The RTU damages my calatheas. interestingly enough, when i dilute the concentrated form with distilled water i get no damage at all.

Something in the product is probably reacting with minerals in the tap water, producing something that is harmful to plants. Calcium, magnesium, etc.

On a related topic, I learned that glyphosate (RoundUp) is much more effective if distilled water is used to mix. Apparently Ca or Mg react with it and render it at least partially ineffective (at least till the minerals are used up), so it's far better to use distilled.