Adjuvants are a big help to organic pest control.

I learned early on in my career and on my own farm how important it is to use the right adjuvants in a spray tank. Not using an adjuvant (in most cases) can mean control or not control depending on the product you are using. Also, a good adjuvant can mean the difference between being able to spray or not if the weather is almost too bad to spray.

So, what is an adjuvant. The website I have in the picture from eOrganic is full of information and says, “It is a relatively broad term referring to substances that are added to pesticides or nutrient solutions for the purpose of improving their mixing, application, or effectiveness. Some product formulations already contain one or multiple adjuvants, while other adjuvants can be purchased to add into tank mixes before application.” I encourage you to click on this link and check out the article.

Recently I participated in a great webinar put on by Momentive who make the Silwet L-77 Organosilicon Surfactant used for many years and one that has been approved organic. They are developing some new products that are especially adapted to organic agriculture and have OMRI approval. They are also developing adjuvants that work in drones and help lower the total spray volume down and help to use less actual product per acre. Here is a slide deck from a webinar put on by Momentive. I took screenshots of the presentation, and you can go to the end and see QR codes to see more presentations. Or I think this link will work but it is on their own website. Link to Presentation. I was particularly impressed with how much better these new adjuvants can both spread across the leaf but also penetrate the leaf, slides 6-8, and resistance to wash off slide 9.  I also think they provide protection to the live organism just sprayed on the leaf by coating the organism.

The next question, is it compatible with a living organism?  In slide 10 you see the tests they did with different fungi and bacteria to determine if they are compatible, and you can see the red squares, some are not! In slide 11 you see a treatments that include a control, a Bacillus amyloliquefaciens (example-Double Nickel, Certis Bio) used alone, and Bacillus amyloliquefaciens used with Silwet Optim.

         I am not showing you this so will buy Momentive products, there are many good companies and adjuvants out there. But I am showing you this to get you interested in buying and using quality adjuvants to make sure these expensive organic products you buy to grow organic do the job they are designed to do.

Here is a brochure for Momentive highlighting their products for both organic and conventional agriculture. Exciting new science! Click this link to download: Momentive Brochure