Syngenta potato fungicide

[Fusion_power]

Anyone else spot the elephant in this outhouse?

http://www.growingproduce.com/crop-p...eed-treatment/

[carolyn137]

Originally Posted by Fusion_power

Anyone else spot the elephant in this outhouse?

http://www.growingproduce.com/crop-p...eed-treatment/

If they are talking,about just treating the exterior of the seeds , I can't see how that would do anything, knowing the way that some of those pathogens infect plants.

But if they are saying, and they didn't, that genes for this and that were introduced into the seed DNA that's a totally different story, and a GMO one, at that.

Carolyn

[RayR]

Nothing GMO here, just chemical.
It looks like fludioxonil and difenoconazole which are the fungicides and thiamethoxam which is the insecticide have all been around awhile in other separate products, so they are nothing new, they just combined into a single product formulation for seed potato in this case. They make other CruiserMaxx formulations for other crop seed too.

[Fusion_power]

And if you read between the lines, the reason they are combining fungicides is because resistance is showing up in the target fungi. This is the same elephant that is showing up from over-use of antibiotics. There are now 3 different disease organisms that are resistant to all known antibiotics. Within 10 years, resistance will be so widespread that most antibiotics will be useless. What happens when fungicides become ineffective?

[RayR]

Ya, I saw that too. It's pretty typical that a single mode of action fungicide used year after year will cause the target pathogen to develop resistance. Anything with multiple modes of action is more difficult for the pathogens to defeat. In nature, multiple modes of action are produced by the diversity of organisms in the rhizosphere to keep plant pathogens and pests under control.
You have to wonder though how these synthetic fungicides and pesticides effect soil life. They never seem to investigate that area of toxicity much. Are they killing off the beneficial organisms that would naturally offer antagonism toward the pathogens and in turn creating a never ending need for more and more different kinds of chemical fungicides?

[amideutch]

You have to wonder though how these synthetic fungicides and pesticides effect soil life. They never seem to investigate that area of toxicity much. Are they killing off the beneficial organisms that would naturally offer antagonism toward the pathogens and in turn creating a never ending need for more and more different kinds of chemical fungicides?

Ray, we are talking about cash crops and commercial growers. To them the soil is an inert growing medium to grow their crops in and to be fed chemical ferts and fungicides and sprayed with more fungicides and insecticides. Then when they harvest their crops they plow the remanents' that they have been spraying back into the soil and start all over again the next season.

Now with the advent Of "Hydraulic Fracking" to release natural gas they are polluting the ground water and you don't even want to know the chemicals they are pumping into the ground to make the process work.

Ami

[carolyn137]

And I'm crawling back into my cave since yes, my eyes saw potato but my brain processed it as tomato seed.

When I'm perfect I'll start a thread here and announce it, but probably perfection will elude me until I'm no longer among the living.

Carolyn

[RayR]

Originally Posted by carolyn137

And I'm crawling back into my cave since yes, my eyes saw potato but my brain processed it as tomato seed.

When I'm perfect I'll start a thread here and announce it, but probably perfection will elude me until I'm no longer among the living.

Carolyn

That's OK Carolyn, we all get confused at times with those darn words with ambiguous meanings.

[dustdevil]

Mother Earth has fed mankind for millions of years without manmade poison. Now, the greedy foolish bite the hand that feeds us...


When all the trees have been cut down,

When all the animals have been hunted,

When all the land and waters are polluted,

When all the air is unsafe to breathe,

Only then will you discover you cannot eat money.


attributed to Cree Prophecy

[carolyn137]

Originally Posted by RayR

That's OK Carolyn, we all get confused at times with those darn words with ambiguous meanings.

By chance are you referring to my use of elude, rather than allude, although the former does paint a picture, doesn't it.

Or are you referring to the P word versus the T word?

Carolyn

[Fusion_power]

Now we need a potato named Am Biguous. Obviously because it Am a biguous potato.

[RayR]

Originally Posted by carolyn137

By chance are you referring to my use of elude, rather than allude, although the former does paint a picture, doesn't it.

Or are you referring to the P word versus the T word?

Carolyn

Ahhh...I was referring to the S word. Who ever came up with calling a potato tuber for planting a "seed potato" when a potato plant produces seed from it's flowers? Just to confuse us I guess.
Then there's the age old question. What came first, the tuber or the seed?

[salix]

Could/would someone help me to understand how an insecticide (in this case Thiamethoxam) which is sprinkled or coated onto a seed potato confer resistance to potato beetles etc.? Does it manifest itself into the leaves/haulms/flowers etc.? Does it also remain in the potato tubers? Am I more confused than usual?

[RayR]

Originally Posted by salix

Could/would someone help me to understand how an insecticide (in this case Thiamethoxam) which is sprinkled or coated onto a seed potato confer resistance to potato beetles etc.? Does it manifest itself into the leaves/haulms/flowers etc.? Does it also remain in the potato tubers? Am I more confused than usual?

Thiamethoxam is a Neonicotinoid, a molecule that is similar to Nicotine in the way it impacts the insect nervous system. It is systemic and is absorbed into the cells in all parts of the plant. How persistent it is, I don't know. Because it is systemic throughout the plant, there are valid concerns about how toxic it is to pollinators.

Like other Neonicotinoids, it is supposed to be of low toxicity to humans, but caveat emptor. I don't use synthetic insecticides myself, just passing along what I've read about it.

[salix]

Thank you, Ray, for confirming it is a systemic insecticide.