I don't spray....no poison....
I find that the more I rely on good compost and wood mulch the less sprays I need.
When I eliminated insecticides and fungicides and fertilizers like Miracle Gro, and rely on compost, alfalfa meal and composted manure from one critter or another, the birds come and eat the bugs, the toads come and eat the bugs and the predator bugs come to eat the bad bugs.
I don't spray anything but water.....and most rarely soap, on my food stuff.
Linda C

Sorry, dcarch, can't help you either. Worm castings & worm tea, lady bugs and ds, who likes to pick off the "bad bugs" for me. Those are my weapons. And sometimes, I just lose some... but I garden, not for the high yield, but to get food without chemicals to our family. For citrus, I do a mild soap wash when I get an aphid/whitefly infestation.

We're totally organic too as are our neighbours so no help here either. And dh is the one who grows the stuff with the kids, I have black thumbs, ehr, make that entire hands LOL

I had to give up in an in-ground garden several years ago... and in NJ, of all places, where the tomatoes are the BEST!?! The groundhogs, rabbits, and squirrels won that battle. Even when I still had dogs, pictured the critters TEASING them thru the sliding door to back yard.

Tried for 2 summers with "patio" tomatoes in large containers on low deck. I knew they could never be real Jerseys, but planted them anyway. WHen I found green tomatoes pulled off vines and eventually big containers turned over, I gave up!

Absolutely! Right on! I agree with everyone, as you notice the tag on the sprayer which says Serenade. I have one for copper sulfate, one for neem, one for Daconile and one for soap.

The sprayer concept is non-discriminatory. it can be used for organic as well as non.

whichever concept of gardening you practice, the effective coverage will reduce the need for spraying significantly.

There are many situations spraying cannot be avoided.

dcarch

Totally organic here too. Systemics don't differentiate, they kill good bugs as well as those who will damage crops. I grow fruit and veggies to enable us to eat healthier, using pesticides would undermine that goal big time.

Posted by klseiverd "I had to give up in an in-ground garden several years ago... and in NJ, of all places, where the tomatoes are the BEST!?! The groundhogs, rabbits, and squirrels won that battle.------"

A simple inexpensive electronic fence system will deal with them forever.

dcarch

Forgot to add, I've also noticed the healthier the plants, the less susceptible they are to insects. Alfalfa mulch seems to help with that.

Truth told, I am a really lazy gardener. I subscribe to the "survival of the fittest" method. Therefore we have lots of blackberries, "volunteer" tomatoes, zucchini, pumpkins, many herbs, onions, lemons, red oak leaf lettuce, swiss chard, fava beans and passionfruit. The crops I've failed with include broccoli, okra, peppers, heirloom tomatoes, corn, artichokes, brussels sprouts and on and on and on... So, no, I don't even spray the "safe" choices. I just keep trying different crops until something works!

Warning: Do not do what I do!

Yes, I practice organic, but I go beyond typical organic a little. I do not compost. All raw material get buried in ground fresh. Kitchen stuff, including meat, and fat. I modified a garden shredder to use carbide blades to pulverize bones, clam shells, corn cobs and bury in ground direct. All infected tomato material, dead tomato plant get piled right under the tomato plants. I do use a modified tiller to dig and bury kitchen material to a depth of 36" deep so no critters can dig it up.

I have been doing this for many years. The plants seem to like it.

dcarch

Then why do you need to spray?

I'm getting a kick out of the machines you invent!

Could use a spray of 00 Buckshot for the deer in my garden.

: )
lyra

Hi,

I use a SOLO 2 liter sprayer with a cup at the end of the nozzle. With this adjustable cup I can easily spray under, around, above and through plants. The spray can be adjusted from a fine mist to a stream. I have listed a link so you can see a photo. The wand is about 24 inches long on my SOLO sprayers so I do not have to stand right on top of my plants. I have several of them. One SOLO for each type chemical. When I purchased mine 3 years ago they were $15 each - local so no S&H to pay.

DISCLAIMER: I am not the seller of this item. I am not affiliated with SOLO. I only list a link so you can see what I am referencing.

Cheers,
DL

Here is a link that might be useful: Photo of SOLO 2 liter pump sprayer

A Swiss friend of ours had a successful bio-farm here where he grew everything from tree fruits to berries, bananas, tomatoes, made cheeses, kept chickens and goats, selling some things locally and others, such as the bananas and potatoes shipped in containers to Europe.

He showed us his bio method for making a natural spray solution that killed the pests but was non-toxic for humans. He had his gardeners save the cuttings and prunings from trees and bushes in large barrels to which they added water, and left to make a "tea" for a certain time (days or weeks - I don't remember the time).

The liquid was strained and put into backpack sprayers. The men then dressed in total cover protective clothing including face masks to spray the trees and crops.
The solution was highly toxic while being sprayed, similar to a nicotine solution.
This was a successful business and his products were certified as bio by European standards.

SharonCb

Forgot to mention that when needed I use a small backpack sprayer for my own garden, filled with a light soap solution, (no nocive commercial chemical products) or another backpack dry sprayer using flowers of sulphur which is widely used against mildew here on rose bushes in warm damp weather.

SharonCb

LindaC, All the solutions (listed) I spray are organic. As I said, there are many situations where you must spray. No benificial predatory insects survive in my area. I must have over 10,000 lady bugs sent out, in two to three days and they all disappeared. lacewings even faster. I did attract lots of birds.

dancinglemons, Solo 2 liter is nowhere near enough. For a smallesh garden, I find that two-gallon is a good size. The sprayer that I am showing is $20.00, and the 2 liter Solo is About $40.00. To spray two gallons is a pain to keep pumping in the summer heat. A motorized Solo will set you back about $400.00.

Lyra, check out my acorn thread and the video link. :-).

SharonCb's backpack is a practical method. The pumping takes less effort.

dcarch

Daconil and copper sulfate are hardly organic.

Let me first say that, I am not a strictest organic gardener, nor are too many home gardeners. I practice what is reasonably practical. I don�t try to get to be a certified organic farmer.

My system of growing is in many ways unique, and many have been contributed to various forums. I will not go into the various details here. As to insect and disease management, there must be billions of information out there to consider. It is a perpetual see/saw struggle between your ingenuity and Mother Nature.

I have two 55 watt germicidal sterilizing lights I also use in addition to all other options. Is that organic? I don�t care. Would I recommend others to do the same? Absolutely not.

Rotenone is an approved organic agent for instance, and Daconil is found to be much less toxic than Rotenone. You can use it up to the day of harvest. There are no compounds, as far as I know, more effective to control late blight then Daconile.

Is copper organic? I am not absolutely sure. It is listed by OMRI for use, but I don�t need to use it that often, if at all. Read this also if you are interested:

http://www.extension.org/article/18351
dcarch

Why did this thread, which describes a mechanical device, degenerate so quickly into OT sermons by organic gardening zealots?

Again, all sprays are not poisons. To cite just one example, out of many, a spray consisting of milk and water can be used to control powdery mildew. You need a sprayer to apply it. Geeze, Now I've probably soiled the reputation of milk and water.

Thanks for the ideas, dcarch. They interest me because they address an issue I have in my own gardening, namely getting good coverage and how to do it with less drudgery. If this thread gets back on topic, I have some questions. I'm a little to upset to compose them right not.

Jim

Correcting typos:

I'm a little too upset to compose them right now.

Jim,
I was reading so fast, I thought you wrote "I'm a little too upset to 'compost' them right now." I thought that was really funny :)

Sorry if my early comments turned the thread. I really do like how you're always coming up with invention, dcarch.

Well, I am definitely not a gardening zealot, organic or otherwise. And I certainly wasn't trying to sermonize or derail the thread.

I think the entire post is off-topic and should have been posted under either conversations or gardening. IMHO, it didn't belong on the Cooking Forum to start with. However, I didn't let any of it upset me.

Posted by dlynn "--- IMHO, it didn't belong on the Cooking Forum to start with. However, I didn't let any of it upset me. "

And I thank you for your tolerance; otherwise many of the posts here will have to go to:

Related forums: Cookware : Recipe Exchange : Dessert Exchange : Once-a-Week Cooking : Vegetarian Exchange , kitchen, appliance, -------.

dcarch

spacific,

I've notice that speed reading can be entertaining. What you did is an example. I also get some amusing results by speed listening, when my mind gets ahead of what is being said and finishes someone's sentence with a funny result.

Jim

There are WEB sites of "frequently misunderstood song lyrics"

For the longest time, I thought Madonna was singing,"---I am a Cheerios Girl"

dcarch