Author Topic: Spraying mango flowers/fruit with Copper in small amounts with spray bottles?  (Read 1295 times)

JakeFruit

  • Mod Emeritus
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 663
  • FL Gulf Coast Fruit Lover Spam Fighter
    • zone 10A
    • View Profile
I sadly lost nearly all my flowers and tiny fruit to powdery mildew last year. Planning to use copper sparingly this season to fight that problem.

I only have a few small trees, I definitely don't need even the smallest spray-wand canisters. Can I use any emptied household spray bottle (properly cleaned)? If there're no big issues with that, how long does the copper stay viable once it's been mixed? One last question that just occurred to me, if copper spray does get old/bad/impotent, what's the proper disposal of the mix?

Thanks in advance!

cbss_daviefl

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 1259
    • USA, Southwest Ranches,FL 33331, 10B
    • View Profile
    • bfgtropicals.com
Use sulfur spray for powdery mildew.
Brandon

INaba

  • Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 46
    • West Florida coast, zone 10A
    • View Profile
Brandon,
When do you use sulfur spray? Now or January?
Thanks.

Lovetoplant

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 291
    • Oxnard,ca
    • View Profile
Use sulfur spray for powdery mildew.

In your opinion, is sulfur spray better?  Never use sulfur.  Does it dissolve in water?

RodneyS

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 756
  • Cerritos, CA (Zone 11a)
    • View Profile
I use neem solution that I mix (water, neem, liquid soap) in a spray bottle, once a week. It's said the solution loses potency in a day, but I wonder how come the pre-mixed neem sprays in stores are good to use when bought off the shelf? 

cbss_daviefl

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 1259
    • USA, Southwest Ranches,FL 33331, 10B
    • View Profile
    • bfgtropicals.com
Watch this video. Har is the expert. Har explains it all.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ASCaXA2r_zY
Brandon

JakeFruit

  • Mod Emeritus
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 663
  • FL Gulf Coast Fruit Lover Spam Fighter
    • zone 10A
    • View Profile
Ahhh, thanks for the video. I swear I watched that very same video last year, but I came away with the idea that I wanted to use copper. I think that was because I was losing all my tiny fruit that had set :/

Soooo, cooper it is to start, and Har makes it clear sulfur is fine to use in small spray bottles. Are there any issues with using small/disposable spray bottles for copper spraying?

On the Neem oil, it has been underwhelming for me. I used it religiously two seasons ago to try and fight Citrus Leaf Miner, it never got the problem under control. Final gave spinosad a shot this past season and it did wonders. I'm sure Neem is useful, just haven't seen great results firsthand in my (limited) experience.

JakeFruit

  • Mod Emeritus
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 663
  • FL Gulf Coast Fruit Lover Spam Fighter
    • zone 10A
    • View Profile
Anybody have a recommendation for a good quality, low quantity sulfur spray mix?

EddieF

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 394
    • s.e. florida
    • View Profile
Jake, go to lowes or hd.  One of them should have quart size bottle of sulfur powder.
As Har said in vid, gotta shake constantly, so hand spray bottle (also at store) is best bet imo.

Galatians522

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 1824
    • Florida 9b
    • View Profile
Make sure you buy WETABLE SULFER. That means it will mix easier in the water. My brand recommended 4 TBLSP per Gal (1 TBLSP per Quart).

shmojojojo

  • Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 224
    • Southern California, Zone 10a
    • View Profile
Anybody have a recommendation for a good quality, low quantity sulfur spray mix?

Try epsom salt (magnesium sulfate) and a teaspoon of baking soda

JakeFruit

  • Mod Emeritus
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 663
  • FL Gulf Coast Fruit Lover Spam Fighter
    • zone 10A
    • View Profile
Thanks for the tips everybody! Would adding a surfactant help with adhesion? I'm assuming any "wetable" sulfur already includes a surfactant, would that be correct?

shmojojojo (big fan of MF Doom BTW, so sad we lost him), are you saying that mixture alone provides the needed sulfur?

shmojojojo

  • Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 224
    • Southern California, Zone 10a
    • View Profile
Thanks for the tips everybody! Would adding a surfactant help with adhesion? I'm assuming any "wetable" sulfur already includes a surfactant, would that be correct?

shmojojojo (big fan of MF Doom BTW, so sad we lost him), are you saying that mixture alone provides the needed sulfur?

Cool! Yeah, we lost him too soon. He was one of a kind :'(

I'm not sure about mangos, but it's the mix I used for black powdery mildew on my grumichama. There's probably better advice in this thread specifically for mangos, but I used 2 tbsp of pennington epsom salt and 1 tpsp of baking soda per gallon and sprayed/soaked it once a week for a month. Then switched to just epsom for maintenance, since long term baking soda will raise PH. The baking soda kills the mold, the epson salt prevents it from growing in the first place. It was very effective after no luck with neem, but I would still suggest going slow and trying neem first. Good luck!