Sevin burned leaves on vegies

[Terriann]

Good morning,
I sprayed my garden with sevin as the neem was not working to get the bugs from eating my crops, and I believe I burned the leaves on almost everything, tomatoes, zucs, cucs, beans..., anyway my question is will they (the plants) be o.k.? Do I need to pull them and start over?
Thanks, Terriann

[rainbowgardener]

Sevin is nasty stuff, harmful to everything in the environment, including plants, though it is supposed to be a pesticide that can be used on plants We have other people write in to say their garden was killed when they sprayed with Sevin.

Here's an article about what Sevin does in the environment


https://www.healthyworld.org/sevin.html

Scrolling about half way down it says this:

Plants: While insecticides are not usually assumed to have adverse effects on plants, carbaryl's use as a plant growth regulator (chemical thinning agent) in apples95,96 makes effects on other plants unsurprising. The following four types of effects of carbaryl have been documented in crop plants:

* Effects on reproduction. Examples include a decrease in germination success in wheat97 and decreased germination and an increase in abnormal chromosomes in vetch.98

* Effects on growth. Examples include the inhibition of seedling growth in beans,99 disrupted cell division in onion,100 distorted growth in poinsettia,35 decreased growth in peas and vetch,19 and a decrease in the weight of bolls in cotton.101

* Effects on photosynthesis. Examples include reductions in the photosynthetic rate of pecan trees102 and young soybeans.103

* Effects on nitrogen fixation. Examples include reduced colonization and spore-formation of peanut mycorrhizae,104 interference with the nitrogen-fixing mechanisms of the soil bacteria Azobacter,105 decreased photosynthesis, growth, nitrogen-fixation, and survival of a nitrogen-fixing bacteria common in rice paddies,106,107 reduced growth of the nitrogen-fixing bacteria Rhizobium,108,19 and toxicity to another nitrogen-fixing bacteria.109

As to what to do, all you can do is spray off your plants well with clean water and flush water through the soil and then wait and see what happens. They may or may not recover, depending on a ton of factors like how much you used , what plants you have and how sensitive they are, how sunny it was at the time, etc.

Did you even give the Neem time to work? It is not a poison and does not kill on contact. It has to be ingested and then it works more like a hormone disrupter so the insect's system gets messed up and it stops eating. So after you spray Neem, it takes awhile before you see any results. What bugs were you trying to get rid of and how bad a problem were you having?

[bcallaha]

Have you tried BT? It doesn't work on all types of bugs, but I've had luck with using BT dust on cabbage and tomatoes, and corn.

Brad

[imafan26]

No matter what pesticide you use. Read the label and follow the instructions. If you must spray, do it on a calm day to forestall drift, and try to do it when it is cooler. I have used sevin before, and did not have a problem burning the plants when I followed the mixing directions. I use the dust and mix it in water with a dial a flow. The liquid sevin is like clay and does not keep as long and the thickness makes it a little harder to mix.

I haven't had to use sevin for years now

If you work toward keeping your plants healthy and plant a diversified garden, pests are not attracted.
Pests prefer sick and weak plants. Plant resistant varieties. You can use bug nets over the crops early on as a barrier.

Sanitation is important. Pick up debris and pull out sickly plants.

Plant nectar and pollen plants to attract beneficial insects. Dill and fennel are great. Fennel is my most important plant for attracting all kinds of beneficial insects. It does need to be planted in a corner by itself but it will protect up to 50 ft away. Marigolds, nasturtiums are aphid trap plants. Sunflowers, calendulas and other members of the parsley family attract bees and ladybugs. I also plant sweet alyssum, zinnias, four o clocks, onions, and many herbs like basil and borage which attract bees but also offer some protection to other plants.

My plants are not pest free. I have those annoying spittle bugs, thrips, white flies, snails and slugs, spider mites in hot weather, beetles and fruit flies. But, I have almost no aphids or mealy bugs. White flies are problems every two years and this is a bad year, but I have planted sweet corn which attracts the purple lady bug and that will help it out. I also cut the hibiscus back since it is a magnet for white flies. It will grow back.

I pick off or hose off bugs with a jet of water or use rubbing alcohol as a contact spray. Alcohol works on most soft bodied bugs and the bees don't seem to be affected by it, they are still visiting. I only spray when I have to and only on those plants that need it. Whenever I am out watering, I am always on the lookout for the snails and slugs, although I do put out bait, they still get some of my seedlings. If my peppers or tomatoes ripen prematurely I know they have either been stung by fruit flies or have worms in them so, I pick them off and discard them. When the pepper weevils are out, I will trim the pepper bush and wait a few weeks. Pepper weevils will go dormant in a few weeks and I can let the peppers produce again. Bushier plants actually are more productive. I prefer to grow large pendulous peppers because the birds have a harder time getting them.

[rainbowgardener]

I thought it was interesting. I was at the garden store yesterday, waiting in line at the checkout (I needed to buy some more containers and some mosquito repellant!). I was standing right next to a display of Sevin and other poisons, so I decided to check and see how much information they give on the label. In fact if you read all the fine print, the Sevin label does give quite a bit of info.

I can't quote exact wording, but it talks about "phytotoxicity" and says that it may burn tender plant leaves, especially if used in conditions of high humidity or rain and says not to use it within 24 hrs of rain (before or after application). It also says that it is acutely toxic to aquatic invertebrates and not to use it near storm drains, ditches, etc or when it might rain within 48 hrs of application. And it says it is highly toxic to honeybees "do not use on blooming plants." Actually, I think if you followed all the warnings that are right there on the label, there would be few times or places you could use it.

[imafan26]

Actually, Sevin is not as bad as some other ones. The keywords are Caution, Warning, and Danger. The stronger the word, the worse it is. Sevin is not toxic to all plants and rarely if it is mixed properly and sprayed lightly not drenched with a thick coating of residue. All chemicals do say to test on a plant leaf first to see if it is sensitive.

Even organic pesticides like neem, insecticidal soap and horticultural oils are toxic. They really would not work on the bugs if they were not toxic. BTW neem may be harming bees. It does not kill the foraging bees, but it is an anti feedant. If the bees take pollen back to the hive and feed it to the larvae it may be toxic to the larvae.

Sevin has a short residual. Unlike, imodicloprid, which is sytemic and can last up to a year. A weaker concentration of imodicloprid is now available for use on citrus trees. It really makes life easier not to have to spray so often. Imodicloprid does not have to be sprayed on the plants, it just needs to be taken up by the roots. But, it definitely is indescriminate and is the main ingredient that people should not be using because it has been implicated in colony collapse disorder of bees.

A couple of other things that happens when you resort to chemicals are:

1) you get stuck on the pesticide treadmill. Pesticides kill beneficial insects that are keeping the bad bugs in check, so if you spray, you will be obligated to continue spraying to control pests.

2) Getting rid of one pest may bring you another. Pesticide resistance, is mother nature's way to balance things out. Unless you spray thorough enough to kill everything, something will survive and then you will have selected for a better bug that is resistant to the pesticide.

3) Because of pesticide resistance, you should alternate pesticides so that the bugs don't have a chance to become immune.

4) Do you really want to eat anything that's been sprayed with toxic chemicals?

5) You will need to take precautions, making sure you wear proper clothing (laundering it separately), cover what you don't want to spray, wait the required time to harvest, and keep the children (including husbands who don't listen when you tell them not to eat anything from the garden because you just sprayed), and pets away from the area until it is safe to return

[soper]

I sprayed my vegetables with Sevin spray and they burned the leaves. Will my vegetables recover?

[rainbowgardener]

the person who made the original post never came back to tell us whether their plants recovered. I hope you will, as it would be good information to have.

In the meantime, I would water thoroughly including watering all the leaves (do this first thing in the morning on a sunny day, so they will have time to dry before evening) and then wait and see what happens. Whether they will survive depends on how big a dose they caught, how humid/rainy it was, etc.

[imafan26]

If the leaves are not burned too badly most plants will recover. There are very few plants that is phytotoxic with Sevin if it is used according to the label. I did not like the liquid so I usually used the dust instead. As long as I only dusted lightly and not during the heat of the day, I did not have a lot of issues with it. It has been a long time since I used it or Malathion.

If you had pests on your vegetables and nothing worked, then part of the problem would be not taking the time to identify the problem in the first place and selecting the least toxic solution that would get the job done. Sevin is a stomach poison for chewing and sucking insects and it won't have any effect if the problem is a disease, soil, nutritional, or watering issue.

Some pests have been sprayed so much that they have become immune to some pesticides. That is why no one should rely on a single pesticide, but should rotate between different methods or rotate plants in the garden to reduce pest pressure and resistance.

If you are using oils or soaps on hard bodied bugs, it does not work as well, Using pesticides kill off natural enemies faster than they kill off the pest. That being said, I do have to resort to imidacloprid for erineum mites on hibiscus. My other choice is to get rid of the hibiscus. I would have no leaves at all on the plant if I did not use it. I do disbud the hibiscus while it is being treated. I do try to use cultural methods on the roses. I have them planted near a streetlight so I don't have problems with rose beetles in the front yard. I have not seen aphids much anywhere in my gardens for years, so the garden patrol has kept them in check with very little intervention from me. I do brush the rose branches and trunk with soapy water to control peach scale. The scale is resistant to pesticides. I do use a systemic when we get a lot of rain that lasts for weeks. I have not been able to control black spot any other way.

[jal_ut]

You might try some diatomaceous earth, which is a naturally occurring Chemical-free, organic powder. Just lightly dust your plants with it.

[kimberlymotley]

My fiance is currently on my $%#& list. He apparently put Sevin dust on my garden last night. On top of obvious reasons I do not want the dust on my plants I am concerned they wont be pollinated since the dust kills pollinators. Does anyone know how to remove this from my garden! please help!