Allotments 4 All

http://www.agraquest.com/index.html - biological ways of combating a wide range of diseases (unfortunately, white rot not listed...) but blight is....

http://www.agraquest.com/products/serenade/pdfs/Serenade-FactSheet092303.pdf
http://www.serenadegarden.com/howto/index.html

Have you tried emailing them? Ask if they have plans to distribute in the uk. Wal mart now own asda so maybe soon...

At the moment, I think it is the red tape - getting approval by whoever licenses pesticides and then by the soil association if they want organic status here.

Make haste slowly? Serenade is a bacillus?

What happened to bacillus thuringiensis? SO safe!

And, of course, Vioxx is a different story??

Quote from: tim on August 22, 2005, 12:00:27
Make haste slowly? Serenade is a bacillus?

What happened to bacillus thuringiensis? SO safe!

And, of course, Vioxx is a different story??

I don't know, what did happen to bacillus thuringiensis?

He crossed the road with the Chicken to get to the other side Redclanger....... ;D

 ;D

Now withdrawn.

It's still on sale today for treating wax moth. I may be buyng some shortly as I'm not comfortable with the numbers of the bastard things I'm seeing round my hives. They're only Lesser Wax Moth, I've seen no Greater, which are the really bad ones, but I'll be checking the hives tomorrow to see what's going on.

I was about to ask why BT is being withdrawn, then I thought I would google! Looks like the bacillus isn't discriminatory between the caterpillars, and there have been decline in numbers of monarchs, swallowtails, etc... Also, there seems to have been activity with gm - sticking in the toxic bits of BT in cotton and corn....

I didn't actually realise BT was being withdrawn.

A particular strain will affect the caterpillar it's designed for more badly, but they will infect any lepidoptera. I use it inside beehives, where only wax moths normally venture (there have been odd sightings of death's head hawkmoth in hives). Using it in the open might well endanger other species.

By 'withdrawn', I really meant that it is not being offered by the Defenders & other 'organic'  suppliers that I have dealt with.

A damned nuisance - I used to rely heavily on it.

If you do manage to get some, you can culture your own. Take some of the feshly dead caterpillars, mash them up in milk, and keep the mixture in the fridge. I'm not sure how long it stores for.

Quote from: Robert_Brenchley on August 23, 2005, 09:35:00
If you do manage to get some, you can culture your own. Take some of the feshly dead caterpillars, mash them up in milk, and keep the mixture in the fridge. I'm not sure how long it stores for.

I don't think my hubby would appreciate dead caterpillars in the fridge - he was not overpleased for nemaslug to live in the fridge until suitable conditions for using on the plot came along a week later.