Captan toxic to plants and bees
Hi, List,
I'm not keeping up with list posts very well right now. But, I wanted to
share something that I have discovered.
Captan can be toxic to leaves of your pumpkin plants. I mixed some in the
seed starting mixture that I put my pre-sprouted seeds into, in order to
prevent damping off, and have had problems getting the true leaves to get
going. Did some research and learned that Captan is phytotoxic, especially
to leaves. This may explain why most commercial seed vendors are now using
Thiram rather than Captan to coat their seeds. The effects of heat and
horticultural oil will enhance the phytotoxicity of Captan.
One additional note, Captan is also highly toxic to bees. I know that most
of us are not using this as a spray on our plant at time of flowering, but
it is worth noting anyhow.
Unfortunately, I see no information on how to neutralize Captan once it has
been applied to soil or plant. Only thing that suggested to help is
watering -- so I hope I don't drown my poor little seedlings, but if they
don't produce any true leaves they won't get me any pumpkins anyway.
Sadly, my Bobier 723 seems to be the most affected, followed by my Calai
846. Sprouts from my Wilbers 520 vary from not affected at all to almost as
bad as the 723.
I am sad, but have learned my lesson. Hope this will help someone else.
Good growing,
Chris
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Chris Wilbers
Springfield, MO / Zone 6
Growing since 1996
Personal best 520.4 lb. (2000)
So then neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but
God who causes the growth. -- I Corinthians 3:7
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n*@sofnet.com
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