Which Sprays Should You Use?

Ten years ago the chemical division of Chevron revolutionized spraying for the home gardener by introducing Funiginex, a liquid spray that treats mildew, rust, and blackspot in one fell swoop.  Imagine how welcome Funginex was to thousands of overworked rosarians who previously had used three separate chemicals to achieve the same fungicidal prevention.

Funginex was a major breakthrough, but of course rosarians still had to add insecticides and miticides if they were needed.  Then a few years later Chevron eliminated even this step when it began to market Orthinex, a material that combined Funginex with an insecticide and a miticide.  Finally there was truly an all-in-one-spray.

Orthinex is undeniably a wonderful labor-saving product, but I have a reservation about it that I'd like to share with you.  I think we should spray to prevent fungus and eradicate pests.  On the one hand, mildew, rust, and blackspot are always lurking around the corner, and preventive spraying must continue whether there is evidence of fungus or not.  On the other hand, no amount of preventive spraying will keep away some bugs.  If you spray for pests when there are none, you burden the plant with unnecessary spray materials.  Eradication is for getting rid of what you see.  If an insecticide or miticide isn't needed, don't use Orthinex.

Not all of the creatures that crawl over your rosebushes are enemies.  Ladybugs and praying mantises, for instance, thrive on the very same insects you spray to eradicate.  If you indiscriminately use insecticides and miticides, you'll wipe out the good along with the bad.

Insects or mites in your area might not respond to the insecticide and miticide Orthinex contains.  You must check with your consulting rosarian to learn (1) which pests are indigenous to your area, and (2) which spray materials work best on them.  Also, this might be a good time to get to know your local county agricultural agent since he or she is often aware of the very latest spray materials.

Once you learn what is required to spray effectively, add those materials to Funginex.  You may find they're already included in Orthinex, in which case you should revel in getting to use a single truly all-inclusive spray material.

Additional spray materials come in liquids and wettable powders.  Use liquids whenever possible.  Powders are messy, difficult to distribute evenly, and likely to leave an unsightly residue.

Once after I had repeatedly complained that my spraying didn't seem as effective as it should be, a consulting rosarian I often turned to reluctantly told me that I might try something he did.  "Add a couple of teaspoons of vinegar to your spray materials," he said.  When I pressed for the rationale, knowing his reluctance to advocate an unproven theory, he told me that when the pH of water is too high, the effectiveness of spray materials is shortened.  Adding vinegar lowers water's pH.  It did the trick for me, and I've never omitted vinegar from spray materials since.  If you wonder about the acidity of your water, ask your local water department about its pH.  If it's higher than 7.5, try adding vinegar to your spray formula.  Be sure it's the first ingredient you add; if you put it in last, it tends to curdle everything else.