acephate/orthene

How long before harvest is it safe to use? I'm seeing 14-21 days out in tobacco?

My vote would be 4 weeks before harvest at the very very latest. That said, I heard hitting them 1-2 weeks before harvest caused zero issues...not that I have done it, but my buddy mistakenly dunked a group that shouldn't have--and we could not tell any difference in comparing the buds/smoke (meaning--if it did not help or hurt...then "why?").

Awesome answer... Thanks!

Anybody else have any experience with using this in conjunction with riptide to battle root aphids? I'm aware this is an older thread but why start a new one?

Thanks

This thread should have been a Sticky long ago. -granger

Granger2 said:

This thread should have been a Sticky long ago. -granger

Click to expand...

Granger, do you have any experience with these? I know you've mentioned the OG Biowar but there is no way I can justify using hundreds and hundreds of dollars on that product, especially with not great results thus far.

I just got over RA with the Orthene at 3grams a gallon from eclipse. It wiped them out but fried the roots and leaves. The roots around the smart pot died off. They were set back about 2.5 weeks while my others are taking longer. Maybe try flushing it out quicker, it did eliminate them.

Here's what the Missouri Botanical Gardens has to say about acephate/orthene.

Toxicity: Moderate to high toxicity to humans.

Cautions/Instructions: Do not apply spray in windy conditions and watch out for drift, particularly into food crop areas. Inadvertently sprayed food crops should be destroyed. Do not apply soil treatment applications around food crops.

http://www.missouribotanicalgarden....s/pests-and-problems/pesticides/acephate.aspx

Don't think it's something I'd want used on my herb.

More reputable sources than the Missouri Botanical Gardens that will tell you that orthene is commonly used on many edible and smokable crops. Orthene has one of the quickest half lives over other synthetic pesticides. About a week at PH 5-7. Its also broken down quicker in aerobic soils and by microbes which cannabis is commonly grown in and its metabolite is one of the cleaner metabolites, its broken down into Co2, some metabolites can be pretty toxic and persistent.

It sucks using chems period but many of todays pests cant be beat with out them. In my opinion its one of the safer chems to use as long as you respect its half life and PHI which is much shorter compared to most chem pesticides.

Last week I asked a guy at a hydro shop what he had for RA he suggested a bifenthrin product, I told him I was going to look into it before purchasing it, I did and it has a half life in soil of 97-250 days, I was so pissed.

Definitely choose your poisons wisely and dont trust everything people tell you, especially some of the idiots that work at hydro shops. Do your own research.

Acephate residue on tobacco leaf is rather tiny, even when foliar sprayed. Check out this study, especially pages 14 & 16.
https://archive.epa.gov/pesticides/chemicalsearch/chemical/foia/web/pdf/103301/103301-1999-04-26a.pdf

Acephate ug/cm2 detected on tobacco leaf:
Day 0: (day of spray) 0.313866
Day 6 (half life): 0.140383
Day 35: 0.0028734

Methamidophos ug/cm2 (by product of acephate)
Day 0: 0.031446
Day 8 (half life): 0.015729
Day 35: 0.0015179

In a perfect world, life would be enjoyable without ever going nuclear, but when you must go then I say walk cautiously.