I use my prssure washer just a few times a year and always give it a shot of Pump Saver when I'm done. I'm not sure what the chemical makeup is but it boils down to a corrosion preventer and seal lubricant. I recommend it. Some also cycle RV antifreeze through the pump to accomplish the same thing. Pick it up at a bog box, comes as a spray can with a screw to the pump inlet fitting.

Sorry for my error about classification, which Roseleaf corrected. I now realize I was looking at an Australian MSDS, and their national agency does not classify tebuconazole as a possible carcinogen. The EPA is very cautious, which is probably a good thing. One synthetic rose fungicide in common use that the EPA does not classify as a probable or possible carcinogen is the Ortho fungicide with triforine. Those who are concerned could use this or an organic fungicide like sulfur, which is very safe. About the neurotoxicity of tebuconazole, there was a finding that it caused death of brain cells in rat pups, but this finding has been retracted by the research group as an error. The group also found that tebuconazole produced learning impairment after the pregnant rat was fed 60 mg/kg per day during pregnancy and then the pups fed the same until adulthood. Lower doses did not affect the rats' learning behavior.

Ilene, For what it is worth, if I lived in your climate with your humidity and your rainfall, I'd probably spray every year with Volck or one of the similar petroleum-based oils, or with a similar organic oil (cottonseed oil, neem oil, soybean oil, etc.). I think it would be hard to have fruit without them. And, if worms in the fruit were an issue, I'd spray at the appropriate time with a Bt product too. It is too hard to get good fruit otherwise. Of all the "chemicals" that you can apply to plants, I consider the petroleum oils to be very safe when used correctly (as you point out) and they have very low toxicity as far as humans/domestic animals are concerned. I know that many people, like you and I, who try to avoid the use of chemicals if at all possible do use dormant oils that are petroleum-based. Some people also use copper-based sprays at the same time they use dormant oil (some mix the two together in the sprayer) and some use lime-sulfur spray. Of all the things you can spray in your yard or garden, dormant oil is one of the most effective and least hazardous. : ) I'd love to be 100% organic, but that is VERY hard and I am not even sure it is realistic in our climate, so I am happy to "settle" for being mostly organic. And, to repeat a point I've made before, there are many "organic" products that are just as dangerous, or even more so, than the "chemical" products they are intended to replace. Sometimes I see people go wild spraying all kinds of "organic" stuff that I wouldn't use in a million years and I think they are lulled into thinking that "organic" automatically means safer or less toxic, and that's not always true. I hope we all get a good fruit crop this year because last year wasn't so great. Dawn

I start with it on day one outside when hardening off. Weekly after that. If it rains as soon as things are dry, and I know it is not going to rain again I spray again. Last year I was not proactive in using it like I should have been. At the end of the season it showed. Most of my plants looked awful from septhoria. A couple of the plants seemed to be oblivious to it, and kept growing, and putting off tomatoes. They were cherry varieties. The one plant I started in late summer, and was proactive with the use of fungicide looked great, and produced great. It is rainy outside as I type. As soon as it dries up I will be spraying all of my plants again. A few people I know that only grow a plant or two will not use anything as they are too cheap to buy it. They wonder why they should be using something that cost them more than the plant did. They tend to also be the ones that plants start going down hill after only putting out a couple of tomatoes. Seysonn I agree on the prevention part. After septhoria starts there is no cure. Fungicide may slow it down. Though my experience with after the fact treatment was that when it starts there is no real slowing it down. Some plants will outgrow it. Some will look like crap. I am going proactive this year, and keep a gallon premixed. All I have to do is shake, pump, spray. Then put the sprayer back up. I know that between $10 for the sprayer, and $15 for the Daconil it is $25 well invested, and the Daconil will probably last me into next year.