As mentioned all fungicides are preventative, not cures so when to start spraying depends on the disease you are preventing and the plant in question. If talking about tomatoes then spraying from the day of plant out is the standard recommendation because of the correlation between spring's cool, damp weather and some of the common diseases. Disinfecting cages is your choice. Few do it AFAIK because I can't think of anything off-hand that can over-winter on them. Dave

I'm curious what the outcome was? My mom once used a bleach solution on a rose as a fungicide and it cleared it up. I had another friend who said the disease is not the problem it's the soil and when his roses yellowed and got brown spots he gave them bone meal and magnesium. The roses greened up and the bacteria went away. At the time I thought the disease was cured by his fertility solution but later I observed it was July when it quits raining here. Then it made much more sense to me understanding the disease thrives in moist environments He probably used that solution for 20 years and I must admit bone meal sure makes beautiful flowers and magnesium is naturally deficient here so it makes foliage green so he was at least partly correct . I use captan as my fungicide because it's inexpensive and it works. This post was edited by ClarkinKS on Mon, Jan 27, 14 at 7:05

I've been using this stuff for a long time. I haven't grown a 2nd nose or 30 toes yet. I have bee's, frogs, butterfly's and humming birds in my garden all the time. The last time I looked in the mirror I really didn't look like a rat or mouse. I wear long sleeve shirt, long pants and eye protection. Clean everything up with a lot of water and take a shower after spraying. You have to look at it like this. ANY man made chemical is going to have some adverse effect on something living sometime. Do you use deodorant?

Last year was our first garden along the lower part of rolling fields/woods. We tilled twice, then planted. I had NEVER heard of cucumber beetles until I checked on my baby a week after everything germinated... from cukes to squashes to pumpkins, everything was destroyed by a little black and yellow-striped beetle. I ended up with a few cukes and 1 zucchini (by the time I got one, the frost came in). I sprayed Serenade last year, but can't confirm it actually helped. I got a yield, a small one, but I got something! This year, I was prepared and bought a similar spray from Whitney Farms. I only used it once on my kole crops to rid them of flea beetles. I have only seen 1 cucumber beetle this year and squished it. Is your garden new? Have you had issues before? My advice is to check your garden daily. The moment you see any pest of interest, flick off and squish as many bugs as you can, then lightly spray your plants (check the weather and wait until after rain). One or two coats should not make a negative difference. I never sprayed the serenade directly on blossoms, but I lightly misted leaves... then picked the bugs out of the flowers.. If you are going the organic route, try mixing in compost or manure. Insecticides are barely needed if the soil is healthy!