grazers new G3

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rowlandwells

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grazers new G3
« on: August 30, 2021, 14:21 »
I've been looking for something to protect my brassicas crops for the dreaded cabbage white butterflies and aphids as this year has not been a good year for our brassicas crops with the exception of our red cabbage that hasn't been to bad

 I've tried a garlic mix that's had some success but not 100% so I've been  looking at a spray for next year and found a grazer product for cabbage white butterflies & caterpillars and aphids called grazers G3 said to be  completely harmless to pets and wildlife

so before diving into buying this product i though I would ask if anyone has used this on there  brassicas this season and how you rated it i found this product looking through gardening-naturally any comments would be most helpful

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Omega

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Re: grazers new G3
« Reply #1 on: September 03, 2021, 20:29 »
Invest in some netting and a frame. That is the only 100% way to keep cabbage white butterflies away. I think you need 7mm for the smaller cabbage white butterflies. Netting is pretty safe to pets and wildlife.

The issue I see with grazers G3 is that it is not very long lasting and not 100% effective. The chart on https://www.grazers.co.uk/products/g3/ says 48h after treatment with grazers G3 10% of the leaf was eaten. It’s not really clear what test they are doing, plants in the field or in a test box.

If they used a test box and added caterpillars which could choose which leaf to eat then maybe treated leaves are less tasteful to caterpillars so they choose the untreated leaf, but a caterpillar on your treated leaf on your plot is not going to have that choice and is still going to eat your treated leaf just as much as if it was not treated. I don’t get the impression that any caterpillars are going to set off on a hike to find an untreated leaf on an adjacent plot.

The chart only goes up to 48h so it’s difficult to know how much of the leaf would be left after 1 week? At the claimed rate of loss (10% 48h) after 1 week 30% would be gone and after 2 weeks half the leaf would have been eaten. That’s assuming you sprayed regularly and after rain etc. and you’re confident you will get every leaf top and bottom covered sufficiently?

Half the leaf gone in 2 weeks does not seem like it stopped much damage when netting can be 100% effective.

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rowlandwells

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Re: grazers new G3
« Reply #2 on: September 05, 2021, 08:47 »
interesting reply Omega and something that has made me rethink about not buying this product  I am at present using another insect spray that's  proving good results on the brassicas and other crops so I'm going to have a rethink on Grazers G3 and possibly stick with the one I'm using thanks for that info

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Omega

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Re: grazers new G3
« Reply #3 on: September 06, 2021, 20:59 »
What is the product you are currently using for comparison?

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Debz

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Re: grazers new G3
« Reply #4 on: September 07, 2021, 07:54 »
I'm with Omega.  Get a net on as soon as you plant them and avoid  having to use sprays all together.  My cabbages have a few munch holes in the leaves but that's slug damage rather than caterpillars.  My cabbages have been fab this year.

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rowlandwells

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Re: grazers new G3
« Reply #5 on: September 08, 2021, 19:36 »
to answer your question Omega Bayer sprayday Greenfly Killer seems to be working OK for me

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Omega

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Re: grazers new G3
« Reply #6 on: September 09, 2021, 12:09 »
Assuming that Bayer have not recently reformulated the product this appears to be the latest msds https://www.qdgroup.co.uk/MDSS_Sheets/1004516%20Sprayday%20Greenfly%20Killer%20MSDS%20v4_110.pdf from 2014.

The main insecticidal ingredient is deltamethrin https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deltamethrin at 1.5 wt%. See also Deltamethrin General Fact Sheet. I’m sure a lot of people would be horrified to spray that anywhere near their crops never mind on the leaves although it’s not particularly nasty in the grand scheme of things.

The grazers G3 product is very likely more benign, but also likely less effective.

I get lots of little white flies on my broccoli / brassicas but I don’t think they do much damage. This page https://marksvegplot.blogspot.com/2016/08/treating-brassicas-for-whitefly.html suggests “The sticky Honeydew (the whiteflies produce) is an ideal medium for the growth of fungi and mildew such as Sooty Mould”. In my experience the caterpillars do a lot more damage. If you wanted a more natural way to get rid of white fly then you could try some fatty acid soap solution spray. However whatever kills the ‘bad’ insects also kills the good ones and maybe it’s better to have the annoying but harmless ‘bad’ ones.   

I would still recommend getting some suitable netting / frame to keep the butterflies off. The upfront cost will be higher because you will have to buy and make it but after that you will save the cost of buying sprays and the time to spray them onto your crops so after some years it will be cost / time neutral and you will have benefited from chemical free crops.

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rowlandwells

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Re: grazers new G3
« Reply #7 on: September 09, 2021, 17:17 »
good reply Omega although I've had that sprayday  for some time without actually using it till now but the fatty soap solution mite be worth trying in place of the sprayday Il keep that for our flower crops but we have gone with the smaller mesh netting to combat these insects

but as I'm not favour of letting something or other decimate my brassicas crops after nurturing them from seed I'm afraid it back to that good old crop spray to rid me of such so I'm still looking for a reliable spray that will do the job for us may be we need to spray at more frequent intervals there's got to be something out there that will do the job after looking at 40 acre fields of brassicas as clean as a whistle maybe wishful thinking  or what


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grazers

Started by vetskh on Grow Your Own

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