Rose Garden Pesticides

1. Rose Garden Pesticides The Chemicals Available to Keep Your Roses Pest-Free

2. Today’s Topics • Pesticide Hierarchy • Systemic, Translaminar, and Contact Chemicals • Identifying the Common Pests • Insects • Funguses • The Available Insecticides and Fungicides • Online Sources of Pesticide Labels • Shopping the Internet for the Best Price • A few words about Resistance Management

3. Today’s Topics (Cont.) • Specific Chemicals for Specific Pests • Insecticides/Miticides • Fungicides • Ready-to-Use (RTU) and Over-the-Counter (OTC) Products for the Smaller Garden • Bayer Advanced Garden Products • Others

4. Pesticide Hierarchy

5. Systemic Chemicals • Apply to the foliage as a spray or to the roots as a drench • Moves (typically, up) through the plant’s vascular system • Phloem cells – like “arteries” through which sugars and other plant products move • Xylem – tubular structure for the transport of water and dissolved minerals --think tree growth rings • Chemicals stay within the plant – don’t wash off • Downside – systemics don’t enter the blooms

6. Translaminar Chemicals • Trans = across or through, like transatlantic • Laminar = layered • Translaminar = through layers • Sometimes referred to as locally systemic • Applied to foliage as a spray, these chemicals are absorbed by the plant • They move through foliage from one surface to the other • Great for spider mites which feed on the underside of leaves and are nearly unaffected by systemics

7. Contact Sprays • Applied to foliage, buds and blooms as a spray • Remain on the surface of foliage and blooms • Not absorbed by the plant • Pretty much the only way to protect blooms • Downside – contact sprays wash off in the rain

8. Identifying the Common Pests • Insects • Japanese Beetles – May through August – devour blooms and leaves • Aphids – entire growing season – attack buds and tender foliage – often accompanied by ants (“farming” the aphids) • Thrips – entire growing season – create blemishes on blooms – especially light colors • Budworms – later in the growing season – bore holes in buds • Spider Mites – when it’s hot and dry – suck the chlorophyll out of leaves – defoliate bushes

9. Identifying the Common Pests • Funguses • Black Spot – all season especially when damp – forms a black spot on leaves which then yellow and fall off • Powdery Mildew – all season – superficial white or gray powder on surfaces of leaves – uncontrolled will prevent blooming • Downy Mildew – cool with high humidity – purplish red to dark brown irregular spots on leaves – uncontrolled may result in defoliation – long purplish areas on canes - may be systemic in roses • Botrytis – all season especially when damp – creates blemishes on blooms, bloom rot and premature shattering • Rust – all season – tiny orange and red spots on leaves – looks like rust – uncontrolled can defoliate bush

10. The Available Insecticides and Fungicides • Where to learn about them - other rosarians, ads in rose magazines and newsletters, rose forums on the Internet, and rose care websites like: • www.rosemania.com • www.rosecare.com • www.saveonchemicals.com • www.growersupply.com • www.southernag.com • www.pestproducts.com • And links from www.chattanoogarose.org

11. Get the Labels • And the Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS) • Sources of labels: • On the chemicals’ containers • Manufacturers’ websites – for example www.bayeradvanced.com • www.cdms.net – offers labels and MSDS for all registered pesticides – search by product name • www.greenbook.net – another site like cdms.net – however, requires simple registration

12. Read the Labels! • And the MSDSs • Typical label format: • Product name, active ingredients and toxicity – CAUTION, WARNING, or DANGER • Safety information – personal protection equipment (PPE), etc. • Use restrictions and application instructions • Applicable crops/plants – pest/disease that is controlled – application rates • Storage and disposal requirements

13. Shopping the Internet

14. Resistance Management • Resistance management in the garden is a problem akin to certain antibiotics losing their effectiveness in humans due to repeated or improper use • Repeated use of the same pesticide allows the target pest to mutate and adapt and become resistant to the pesticide • Each insecticide and fungicide has a specific mode of action (MOA) in the way it disables and kills its target pest • If these MOAs are alternated from one spraying to the next the target pest is very less likely to adapt

15. Resistance Management (Cont.) • Or, if chemicals with different MOAs are mixed in a single spraying the target pest is unable to adapt • The Insecticide Resistance Action Committee (IRAC – www.irac-online.org) in its latest publication identifies 28 insecticide MOAs • The Fungicide Resistance Action Committee (FRAC – www.frac.info) has identified over 40 fungicide MOAs • Dr. Ray Cloyd and I decided that the large number of MOAs should and could be consolidated to be of more use to rosarians – we came up with 6 insecticide MOAs and 6 fungicide MOAs

16. Resistance Management (Cont.) • Your handout contains the two tables that Dr. Cloyd and I derived from the IRAC and FRAC publications • MOA 6 in both tables is what Dr. Cloyd calls the “napalm” MOA – the chemicals in this group kill on contact and leave little or no room for adaptation • I’ve found two useful insecticide partnerings to be Merit and Tempo and Avid and TetraSan • An effective fungicide partnering is Banner Maxx (alternated with Cleary’s 3336F) and Compass

17. Perspective Setting • Pesticide producers view rose growers as a tiny market • Insecticides are primarily marketed to farmers and maintainers of large public areas • Fungicides target turf grass markets like golf courses • We’re just lucky that these pesticides work to eliminate rose garden pests

18. Specific Chemicals for Specific Pests • Insecticides • Orthene – MOA 1 – a translaminar chemical – spray for the control of aphids, Japanese Beetles, and thrips • Sevin – MOA 1 – a contact spray – very effective against Japanese Beetles – has resistance management problems with thrips if used alone – combine with Tempo, Talstar or Conserve • Talstar – MOA 2 – a contact spray – also registered as a miticide – good control of aphids and Japanese Beetles – look also for Bifen I/T – exactly the same as Talstar but less expensive ($59.90 vs $99.99 per quart)

19. More Pest-Killers • Insecticides (Cont.) • Tempo – MOA 2 - a highly-effective contact spray – kills just about any insect • Avid – MOA 3 – a translaminar spray – kills adult spider mites • Floramite – MOA 3 – a contact spray – kills all spider mite life stages • Akari 5SC – MOA 3 – a contact spray – kills all spider mite life stages – 60% the cost of Floramite • Merit - MOA 4 – a very effective systemic chemical – kills any insects that are eating the foliage – use as a drench or spray

20. …And More • Insecticides (Cont.) • Conserve – MOA 4 – a translaminar spray – probably the most effective attack on thrips • Hexygon – MOA 5 – a contact spray for the control of spider mite larva and eggs – combine with Avid • TetraSan – MOA 5 – a translaminar spray for the control of spider mite larva and eggs – combine with Avid for a translaminar spray addressing all mite life stages • Forbid 4F – MOA 6 – a translaminar spray for the control of all spider mite life stages – minimum resistance management problems – very expensive

21. Now Disease (Fungus) Control • Fungicides • Banner Maxx – MOA 1 – a systemic chemical that attacks blackspot, powdery mildew and rust • Eagle 20 EW – MOA 1 – very similar to Banner Maxx but less toxic (CAUTION instead of WARNING) – same active ingredient as Systhane • Decree 50 WDG – MOA 1 – specifically registered as a botryticide • Cleary’s 3336F – MOA 2 – a systemic chemical that can be alternated with Banner Maxx • Chipco 26019 Flo – MOA 3 – specifically registered to control botrytis blight – alternate with Decree

22. More Disease Control • Fungicides (Cont.) • Subdue Maxx – MOA 4 – targets root and stem rot – primarily used as a drench in greenhouses • Compass – MOA 5 – a translaminar chemical that controls just about every rose disease, including botrytis, downy mildew, and powdery mildew • Alliette – MOA 6 – an aluminum-based contact chemical that specifically targets downy mildew • Manzate – MOA 6 – a zinc- and manganese-based contact spray for the very effective eradication of blackspot – now sold as Pentathlon • Zyban – MOAs 2 and 6 – a combination of the active ingredients in Cleary’s 3336F and Manzate – comes as a fine powder

23. RTU and OTC Products • Bayer Advanced Garden Products • www.bayeradvanced.com • Rose & Flower Insect Killer • A combination of Merit and Tempo • Available in spray bottle, hose-end sprayer and concentrate • 2 in 1 Systemic Rose & Flower Care • Granules sprinkled around bush and watered-in • 12-18-6 fertilizer • Orthene-like systemic insecticide - disulfoton

24. RTU and OTC Products (Cont.) • More Bayer Advanced Garden Products • All-in-One Rose & Flower Care • Merit insecticide plus Banner Maxx fungicide • 9-14-9 fertilizer • Mixed 4 tbsp/quart and used as a drench • Bayer Advanced Disease Control • Concentrate diluted 1.5 tbsp/gallon to spray • Active ingredient same as Banner Maxx

25. Some Other RTU/OTC Products • Safer Brand 3 in 1 Garden Spray – uses fatty acids, sulfur and neem oil (MOA 6) to create an environmentally safe insecticide, fungicide and miticide • Green Light Bioganic Organic Rose & Flower Ready-to-Use – uses plant oils (MOA 6) to create an environmentally safe insecticide, fungicide and miticide • Ortho Orthenex Insect & Disease Control – active ingredients are acephate (Orthene) and triforine (same chemical group as Banner Maxx) • GardenTech Sevin – OTC version of this very effective insecticide (MOA 1)

26. And, Finally…Adjuvants • Adjuvant – serving to help or assist – something to make a spray more effective • Stirrup M – a pheromone (sexual attractant) that draws spider mites to any spray in which it’s mixed • Indicate 5 – adjusts pH of spray water and serves as a spreader-sticker – most sprays more effective in a slightly acidic liquid • Hi-Yield Spreader-Sticker (or any other OTC brand) – makes spray adhere to foliage instead of dribbling off