North Carolina Cooperative Extension Service NC STATE UNIVERSITY 538 Scotts Creek Road, Suite 205 Sylva, N.C. 28779 828-­586-­4009 August-­September 2010
Newsletter
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http://jackson.ces.ncsu.edu/ 6RIDURYHUJURZHUVKDYHDWWHQGHGDWOHDVWRQHRIWKLV\HDU·V,QVHFW,306HULHV(DFKPRQWK
SDUWLFLSDQWVKDYHLQWHUDFWHGDQGDSSOLHGZKDWWKH\·YHOHDUQHGZLWKVRPHKDQGV-­on scouting and
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August or again in September! This is a great opportunity to meet and interact with other growers
along with Jill Sidebottom, NCSU IPM Conifer Specialist, Jeff Owen NCSU Christmas Tree Special-­
ist and Christy Bredenkamp, NCSU Horticulture Agent (Swain & Jackson Counties). This series
will meet the 1st Friday of each month in August and September from 1:00-­3:30 p.m. in various
fields throughout Jackson County. Growers from neighboring counties are most welcome to par-­
ticipant.
August -­ WKLVPRQWK·VPHHWLQJZLOOEHKHOGRQFriday on August 6th from 1:00 ² 3:30 p.m. at
Fowlers Tree Farm in the Panthertown area within Cashiers. Dr. Jill Sidebottom, Jeff Owen and
hopefully Bill Glenn will cover the spectrum of insects, weed control and discuss the outlook for the
current market.
September -­ WKLVPRQWK·VPHHWLQJZLOOEHKHOGRQFriday September 3rd from 1:00-­3:30 p.m.
Call our office for more information and the location (TBA).
Starting a New
Christmas
Tree Assoc.
&
Calibration
Getting the
Rates Right!
Endosulfan
Update
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in this program or need directions, contact our office at phone # 586 4009.
New Jackson County Christmas Tree Association
Hi everyone! On Tuesday July 6th we held our 3rd meeting at the Cashiers library for creat-­
ing a local Christmas Tree Association. Eighteen growers were present. Throughout the
meeting we discussed the following ideas:
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Develop a website and link with other organizations. In addition, look into what it takes
to be top listing on the various search engines.
Emphasize with clientele the concept of less freight due to closer distance throughout the
South East.
Develop a brochure and highlight the number of acres and growers in Jackson County.
Include a map of Jackson County and place in hotels, rest areas, Chamber of Commerce
etc.
Possibly use dues to pay for a website and or tradeshow fees.
Develop magnets with association website.
Develop business cards (include website) and a DVD for promotional purposes.
The Associations # 2 emphasis should be on how to grow quality trees more cheaply.
Possibly act as a coop for acquiring pesticides and fertilizers more cheaply.
Potential to acquire farm insurance for growers, especially for choose and cut growers.
For the future growth and success of this Association we need you! Attendance has been
great but now we need growers who are willing to spend time and commit to making this
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Ɣ Look over other county Christmas tree association by-­laws and bring ideas for developing
WKH-DFNVRQ&RXQW\·VE\-­laws. Give me a call and I will mail you other examples of asso-­
ciation by-­laws.
Ɣ Growers agreed to consider themselves, decline or nominate willing individuals for the
positions of President, Vice-­President, Secretary and Treasurer.
Ɣ Growers will come with ideas for membership dues.
Many growers have expressed their desire to start an Association but we need more individu-­
als who are committed to this endeavor. If you think this is something worth pursuing then
come to our next meeting which will be held on Tuesday August 3rd at 7:00 p.m. in the Cash-­
iers library.
I don't think there's anything else that causes people more confusion than numbers. And un-­
fortunately, pesticide rates are all about numbers.
Insecticides can be labeled as a per acre rate, or a per 100 gallons rate. Growers like the 100
gallon rates, because they are easy to mix, but often the per acre rates are more accurate.
When spraying with a mistblower, it's pretty easy to calibrate the sprayer. In fact, most grow-­
ers can tell you exactly how much water they are putting out per acre. The problem comes
when putting out sprays with a high pressure sprayer. Yet, when I start to question
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people, they can usually give me a ball park figure -­-­ say less than 200 gallons per acre
or around 300 gallons per acre or 500+ gallons per acre. And that's all you need to know
to get an idea of how much chemical to add per 100 gallons.
For instance, if you are trying to apply Envidor at 24 ounces per acre, it you are using 300 gallons of
water per acre, mixing the product at 8 ounces per 100 gallons will give you the exact rate. But if you
are spraying 500 gallons of water per acre, you will be applying more than 40 ounces per acre which
exceeds the rate and will cost way too much money. If you're using less than 200 gallons of water per
acre, you'd best mix it at 12 ounces per 100 gallons. So before you mix, think about how much water
you're likely to use. *(See below for calibrating a high pressure sprayer).
Using that same Envidor at 24 ounces per acre out of a mistblower? Applying 40 gallons of water per
acre? Then you would mix the Envidor at 60 ounces in 100 gallons.
But what about when you are applying a materials with a mistblower that has a per 100 gallon rate?
Asana is a good example of this. Labeled at 9.6 ounces per 100 gallons, it can be used in a mistblower
to get control of multiple pests including twig aphids, balsam woolly adelgid, and elongate hemlock
scale.
Back when I first started working, Bill Huxster and Jim McGraw encouraged people to use 3 times the
per 100 gallon rate when spraying with a mistblower. That's because growers are using much less wa-­
ter, but they still need basically the same amount of chemical per acre. It turns out, that's a pretty
good rule of thumb. A mix of 30 ounces of Asana per 100 gallons seems like a lot, but Asana is labeled
at up to 52 ounces per 100 gallons in ultra-­low volume sprays (such as an aircraft) and as much as 37
ounces per acre for certain pests in Christmas trees.
When looking at labels, see if there is a cap for application. Is there an amount you should not exceed
when applying materials specified on the label? Use this as your guideline for how much to apply.
Figuring out rates when it comes to insecticides is just common sense. Take a minute to make sure
what you're using makes sense.
CALIBRATING A HIGH PRESSURE SPRAYER:You can always calibrate
your high pressure sprayer. First determine how much water you are
putting out per second. Spray into a bucket for 10 seconds having set
up the gun the way you mean to spray, measure what you spray and
divide by 10. (You might need to cover the bucket with a garbage bag
to keep it from coming out). That gives you what you are spraying out
per second. Then spray a few trees and see approximately how many
seconds it takes to cover the tree the way you want to.
An example -­-­ say you spray 3 ounces per second and approximately 4 seconds per tree on one side.
Since you spray from two directions, thats 8 seconds per tree. That's 24 ounces of water per tree. If
you have 1,700 trees per acre, you are using about 300 gallons per acre. If you stock at 2,200 trees
per acre, you would be using about 400 gallons per acre.
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As of June, 2010, EPA has decided that endosulfan, the active ingredient to Thionex, poses too great
a risk to workers and wildlife. Therefore EPA is taking action to end all uses of the product. You can
read more about it at: http://www.epa.gov/pesticides/reregistration/endosulfan/endosulfan-­cancl-­fs.html.
According to an EPA news release dated 6/9/2010, "Makhteshim Agan of North America, the manu-­
facturer of endosulfan, is in discussions with EPA to voluntarily terminate all endosulfan uses. EPA
is currently working out the details of the decision that will eliminate all endosulfan uses, while in-­
corporating consideration of the needs for growers to timely move to lower-­risk pest control prac-­
tices."
Lee Davis with NCDA&CS says the following about the fate of endosulfan. "The way I understand it is
that the EPA and the registrant are currently working out the details of how to cancel the product.
Usually, the EPA will post to the Federal Register a notice to cancel the product and give a date upon
which the product is cancelled. Usually, the EPA will allow a product already in the channels of
trade or in the hands of the end user to be used up according to label directions. This is what usu-­
ally happens, but each cancellation notice is unique. So, it is not possible to say exactly what in-­
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As I learn more I will keep you posted!
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Sincerely,
Christy Bredenkamp, Extension Agent
Agriculture-­Horticulture
NC STATE UNIVERSITY Jackson County Center
538 Scotts Creek Road, Suite 205
Sylva, NC 28779