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I'm sick, I think I've killed my whole garden!

robisc

robisc

Bad news for me, the night before last I noticed some squash bugs on my Giant Dill pumpkin plants so I grabbed the hose end sprayer with what I THOUGHT was Sevin, wrong! Not only do all of my pumpkins but all my pepper plants and tomato plants look like they've been broiled. I've watered heavily for 2 night straight and after looking tonight I don't think anything will make it. Fortunately I've got some of my peppers potted and I'll just till all this up and put them in the ground, everything was producing great too and I should have known better because I've heard of this done before, I guess labeling herbicide and pesticide containers really is a good thing, though I'm still not sure what the stuff is I sprayed, it was white like Sevin, but just wanted to share my nightmare and maybe someone else can learn from my stupid mistake. Pulled a few of what I think are Bhuts in this pic, they were looking good.
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Oy. If that was herbicide, first thing is DON'T till up the ground and put your potted plants in it any day soon. The stuff can stick around for quite a awhile. Sorry to hear things are going that way for you.
 
Those look like Fatalli to me. And I would not eat them until you find out just what the heck you sprayed on them.

Dude, label, label, label.

I'm sorry man. Live and learn. :cheers:
 
geeme said:
Oy. If that was herbicide, first thing is DON'T till up the ground and put your potted plants in it any day soon. The stuff can stick around for quite a awhile. Sorry to hear things are going that way for you.
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+1 herbicides can stick around for 14 days. If not more, depending on the product. This is why my backpack sprayer is only used for herbicide/insecticide around the house. An now I have a handfull of hand held sprayers for the garden.
 
That really sucks. Have you thought about going organic? The pests suck, but It sure is great to eat something with no chemicals!
 
I never had any luck with sevin... Ladybugs for aphids is what I use but as far as the garden goes I suggest you look into what you sprays and how does it look now??

My buddy soaked his garden with a broad leaf killer to kill the weeds and found out that peppers are broad leaf plants ....

always next year I say .

had to say that last year cause I had back sergery and my 25 potted peppers that grew to 4 feet tall lost all the flowers in the greenhouse because they do that when they get really hot!! If I could have been able to lift anything they would have went outside but the year befor I lost a wack of plants to hail... this will be my year, please!!
 
yeah it's bad and yes it's my fault about the labeling, also I am not going to eat these peppers just maybe try and salvage some of the seeds though. As for not tilling, even though I'm not sure what it was that was in the sprayer I know it was not a non-selective type herbicide like glyphosphate (Roundup) or anything like that so the ground should be fine once I mow then till everything up and let it sit for a few days. As for the organics gardening, maybe you're right, guess there's always next year too so need to do my homework.
 
As mentioned earlier I know it wasn't glyphosphate, i don't use that in this type of sprayer, though not sure exactly what it was, after talking to a herbicide specialist and describing the liquid without testing of course he thinks it may just be an overdosage of Sevin, I'm gonna check it this evening and maybe try pruning everything way back and give everything a feeding and see if I can't salvage something rather than going scorched earth and cutting it all down. As for the organics suggestion, while I would be all for it but under the circumstances of the infestation of squash bugs that were in my pumpkins I don't know of an organic that would get rid of them successfully.
 
Sometimes my reading skills fail me, I missed the "not" in that sentence, oh well.

I use organic methods because it pleases me to see how natural systems can interact to produce positive results, and sometimes even the "failures" are interesting. Other people have different priorities, like keeping their plants alive and producing, so by all means, use whatever tools are best for the job. When I absolutely feel like I must use a pesticide, I go for a pyrethrin based spray. I can target the application, it is immediately lethal, and breaks down rapidly to minimize unintended kill.
 
Should know by the smell of it. Sevin has a distinct smell. Kind of like a dark cellar/earthy smell IMO. I too use it in serious times can't forget that smell.

Side note, an don't wanna thread jack. But since liquid sevin has been brought up. Has anyone used the new Garden Tech Worry-free Sevin? It's .25% pyrethin based. Just curious if it works well. An can't see how sevin could damage plants. Unless it was applied in such a heavy rate that the elements in it are clogging the plant spores. As it does clog my sprayer tip after several uses. Good luck
 
From the Garden Tech FAQ on Sevin (Carbaryl):
Q: Is it too cold/too hot to apply Sevin? A: When temperatures are below 55° or above 85° do not use the chemical for risk of product failure and scorching of plants. Generally, do not spray in the heat of the day; which will prevent you from burning your plants.
 
robisc said:
As for the organics suggestion, while I would be all for it but under the circumstances of the infestation of squash bugs that were in my pumpkins I don't know of an organic that would get rid of them successfully.
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I share an organic garden at a college with two professors. I'm only growing chiles there. They have been having problems with squash bugs for years. I think the best solution would be spraying them down with dish soap mixed with water. That's what they have been doing. You could also buy some praying mantises. We got rid of all the aphids with dish soap too. I had such a horrible infestation this year! All is well now except for caterpillars eating my chiles (I just caught them in the act the this week).
 
That is a real bummer. Sorry to hear it. Thanks for posting, though, as the ensuing discussion has been valuable. Didn't know Sevin was toxic to plants in larger amounts or that there is a temperature window for its application.
 
Still no verdict on the outcome or what it was I sprayed, I'm still thinking it was in fact Sevin and the temerature and overdosage may very well have been the issue, it has been very hot here, mid to upper 90's daytime temps and still holding out hope that some of these plants will pull thru, I did some major pruning and removed all pods and tomatoes yesterday evening.
 
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