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Serrano branch-end disease?

SL3 said:
Good ol California. It appears you have to have a license to buy Lime Sulfur or Avid here. I finally tracked some down at a fair price only to find out you need an Ag License. The guy at the nursery said every time they find something that works, California is the first to make it illegal. Now what, just watch my plants disintegrate before my eyes. Can't wait to retire and get out of this State.
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Was it lime sulfur or Avid you found, and what was the 'fair price'?
 
Regrettable state of CA makes it so hard for home growers to do the right thing.  Regardless, both those compounds have their risks.  In light of that I've been researching this: Met52 EC (Metarhizium anisopliae Strain F52* 11.0%).  It's an emulsified concentrate containing the naturally-occurring fungus M. anisopliae (Cornell Univ. says reclassified to M. brunneum).  Met52 is available now in many states but as a commerical ag/tree & orchard product, at commerical ag size & price ($190/qt).  Here's one distributor's offering: http://www.evergreengrowers.com/met52-21/met52-ec/met52-ec.html.  Have contacted the mfg Novozymes - they say they're working on retail-size packaging, supposed to be available Q1 2014.
 
Lots about metarhizium in the literature - see these:
 
ddr.nal.usda.gov/bitstream/10113/11204/1/ind43979222.pdf‎
 
http://extension.psu.edu/plants/vegetable-fruit/news/2013/met52-ec-a-new-mycoinsecticide-for-greenhouse-and-vegetable-growers
http://www.biocontrol.entomology.cornell.edu/pathogens/Metarhizium.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metarhizium_anisopliae
 
I decided to research my root issue and discovered YAY! I have root knot nematodes infesting part of my yard. The sample pics of damage looked exactly like the roots of a couple of the plants I yanked and the symptoms matched as well. Also, we have several citrus trees and they are playing host to a bumper crop of citrus thrips (symptom match and positive ID on a live bug). This has been a record year for pests in my garden. I have never had this many problems in all my other seasons combined.
 
So now I have three pests that are virtually impossible to get rid of. Awesome  :banghead:
 
PS. Still looking for an appropriate sulfur based treatment to try on the mites. Will update when I find something.
 
I pulled this from one of the papers linked on the first page. Abamectin (Avid) and lime-sulfur definitely work the best. It looks like canola oil may be a viable option, but it will need to be reapplied every 7 days. I'm thinking of doing a trial on a portion of my plant, but I think the temperatures are still too hot. Apparently canola can be phytotoxic at temperatures above 85F and it is still in the mid 90's for several hours each day here. Anyone else willing to give it a try?
mites+control.jpg
 
I had a terrible problem with mites this spring, I tried two solutions, both worked very well.
 
Bonide wettable sulfur, 2tbs per gal spray every 3 or 4 days, very early or late. Did this for a few weeks to combat eggs hatching. Don't use if oil was applied until 2 or 3 weeks pass or leaf burn could happen.
 
Homemade Rosemary spray. A product exists but is very expensive. Filled a crockpot 4" deep with Rosemary leaves, added veg oil to top of leaves, cooked on high for 4 hours, mashing with a potato masher. Strained and added 2oz to gal of water and a little dish soap as a surfactant. Sprayed every 4 or 5 days for 1.5 weeks. This worked well but IMHO is not a good solution for a dirt grow. I used it on container plants which I could move out of full sun.
 
The chart above, I found that while researching too. That's what prompted me to try the sulfur.
 
usery said:
 
Was it lime sulfur or Avid you found, and what was the 'fair price'?
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The Avid was over 200 bucks a qt, but if you bought it as abamectin you got it for 130 a qt. The Lime Sulfur was the best price at $26 for two gallons. But again it really does not matter how cheap if you can not use it.
 
By looking at the chart above I also discovered how ineffective neem oil was on these guys. Problem is that most my plants already have a good soaking of neem already on them, I might be afraid to hit them with anything else until the neem wears off some. I might try hitting the leaves with my hose sprayer, but I don't use the high alkaline water from my hose to water my plants and that also could be a problem.
 
I also plan to try Canola Oil, but am having the same problem with the high temps. I have consistently been in the 90s to 100s all summer and I don't see any breaks in the weather in the near future. I do find it odd that they say these mites don't like weather over 90 degrees. If that were true why are they still on my plants. Although in another article they said they thrive in warm dry dusty areas. My property is plenty warm, dry and very dusty. The top soil around my house is like baby powder with solid DG underneath.
 
I have always had some sort of mite problem here even before I got into peppers. I remember pulling out some old agave's that had already bloomed and I got myself covered in mites from head to toe, I couldn't shower long enough, and swore I could feel those little buggers for days after.
 
Gee "only" $130 a qt for abamectin.  
 
There are a bunch of different mites so I expect any info about tolerance to heat only applies to some specific variety. This fall and winter I will be hitting the landscape plants near the pepper growing areas with canola to try to tamp down the population so it doesn't get out of control next summer. The mites won this battle, but I intend to win the war. 
 
I was also surprised that neem was totally useless in this situation. Maybe the best bet is to home-brew something using multiple botanical oils for a broad spectrum death spray. :flamethrower:  
 
Every time my affected plants are recovering, they seem to have moved on to a new one. Hope they are just a summer pest. Anyone have any info on that. I think I can get by just another month or two if that is the case.
 
They seem to LOVE Trinidad scorpions by the way. My habs are completely unaffected.
 
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