Accident...Bonide on Green Peppers!

[adrianbarrs]

I sprayed 200 ml of Bonide Systemic on 2 ft tall green pepper plants.
It sat for 3 minutes till I realised.
I washed the plants off thoroughly with a hose.
I watered each plant deeply to wash it past the roots if it reached them.
The plants are mulched with wheat straw and not yet producing.
They are in a loose bed of horse manure.
How bad did I mess up?
Are the plants no good to eat from here out?

Thanks for any advice.

[TZ -OH6]

What is the active ingredient? Imidacloprid?

[cynthia_h]

After some digging (the 12-page label doesn't list the active ingredient), I found that the active ingredient in "Bonide Systemic Ready to Use Spray" is dimethoate, an organophosphate. (and I LOST MY LINK gotta find it again...)

Pant, pant...ran and got the link--you know how it is--they move so quickly!

http://www.pesticideinfo.org/Detail_Che ... Id=PC33349

Cynthia H.
Sunset Zone 17, USDA Zone 9

[TZ -OH6]

Active ingredient has to be on the front of the bottle by law. You can never find what you want in the booklets (such as how much to mix in one gallon of water)



PANNA Pesticide Acion Network North Aamerica is not the first place I would go for unbiased/accurate information.



http://www.fao.org/ag/AGP/AGPP/Pesticid ... methoa.pdf


http://pmep.cce.cornell.edu/profiles/ex ... e-ext.html

"Because dimethoate is highly soluble in water and it adsorbs only very weakly to soil particles, it may be subject to considerable leaching (8, 9). It may be subject to degradation by hydrolysis, especially in alkaline soils, and to evaporation from dry soil surfaces. Losses due to evaporation of 23 to 40% of applied dimethoate have been reported. Biodegradation may be significant, with 77% degradation reported for a non-sterile clay loam soil in 2 weeks reported (9).
Dimethoate does not persist. Soil half-lives of 4 to 16 days, or as high as 122 days have been reported. Half-lives between 2.5 and 4 days were reported during drought and moderate rainfall conditions (9). Dimethoate breaks down faster in moist soils. It is rapidly broken down by most soil microorganisms. "



http://www.freshplaza.com/news_detail.asp?id=61745

note:
"BASF field vegetable product manager Robert Storer reassured growers that the MRL change is just part of the ongoing European Commission harmonisation process. "It's a bureaucratic issue not a safety issue," he said."


http://www.dhss.delaware.gov/dhss/dph/f ... ethfaq.pdf


http://www.springerlink.com/content/pm5ch7t150f8tfy6/

Half life in cherries between 4-7 days

after application residues in asparagas decreased by about 90% 7 days.


Its not something you want to mess around with directly but later in the season I wouldn't expect much to be hanging around, especially since the plants did not get much exposure. It doesn't persist in the body and is excreted from in a day or two.

[adrianbarrs]

Acephate (O,S-dimethyl acetylphosphoramidothionate) 9.4%

[TZ -OH6]

Acephate is more interesting because it breaks down into the highly toxic insecticide Methamidophos


http://extoxnet.orst.edu/pips/acephate.htm

Breakdown of Chemical in Soil and Groundwater: Acephate dissipates rapidly with half-lives of <3 and 6 days in aerobic and anaerobic soils, respectively.


http://extoxnet.orst.edu/pips/methamid.htm

Breakdown of Chemical in Vegetation: Methamidophos is taken up through the roots and leaves. In studies of methamidophos in tomato plants, the half-lives in fruit and leaves were measured as 4.8-5.1 days and 5.5-5.9 days, respectively (157).

Breakdown of Chemical in Soil and Groundwater: In aerobic soils, the half-life of methamidophos is as follows: 1.9 days in silt, 4.8 days in loam, 6.1 days in sand, and 10-12 days in sandy loam (169).



But it goes away in time

The dynamic degradation results showed that the half-lives of acephate and methamidophos in open field pakchoi were 1.36 days with dynamic degradation equation C t  = 133.01e − 0.5107t , and 2.86 days with C t  = 6.5753e − 0.2422t , respectively. While the half-lives of acephate and methamidophos in the greenhouse were 1.07 days with C t  = 59.134e − 0.4353t and 0.79 days with C t  = 0.2703e − 0.2595t , respectively

from

http://www.springerlink.com/content/r7420367g1621283/



Food
Use of methamidophos may result in low level residues; but there should be no health hazards if preharvest intervals are observed. (IPCS, 1993)

Since 1987 in Hong Kong, there have been numerous cases of acute poisoning following the consumption of green leafy vegetables imported from China. In Shenzen, where the bulk of these vegetables originates, it is strongly suspected that methamidophos has been used by some farmers and that the sprayed vegetables have been harvested too early before the residue levels have fallen to save levels. (Chan, 1994)

In the US, methamidophos was found at unacceptable levels in preschoolers diets in a 1989 study. The average intake as a percentage of the ADI was 5.763%. Between 63%-97.6% of 1-5 year olds were estimated to be receiving average daily exposures above the ADI (NRDC, 1989).

from http://www.fao.org/docrep/w5715e/w5715e02.htm



Again, I would not eat the peppers already on the plant, and wait for the late season fruits.

[cynthia_h]

Interesting. The 12-page booklet was from the Bonide company's site, and it didn't mention the active ingredient, nor did the site offer a PDF of the product label. So, in my Google search, I went to the first site (halfway down the page) which offered specifics on the active ingredient.

That's all there is as to my "choice" of source. No biggie.

The 12-page booklet did say, though, that the product is highly toxic to aquatic life--so make sure there's no runoff to storm drains and such--and to bees.

Thx for the further info; "acephate" didn't show up on my search... maybe the technically correct name isn't the one I used?

"Bonide Systemic Ready to Use Spray"

Just out of curiosity, what *is* the exact product name? I'd like to end up with the same result you guys are.

Thanks!

Cynthia

[TZ -OH6]

The first thing I found on my search was the Bonide granular systemic. It had the Imidacloprid. This is why I'm not a fan of the new user friendly names all of these things are changing to so they don't sound like chemicals.

[adrianbarrs]

Thanks very much to all.
Seems there's a new aspect of vegetable gardening for me to fathom.
TZ-OH6, a half life should be doubled for complete cessation...correct?
So if I remove any current fruit and any that starts for the next 2 weeks, thereafter I should be in the clear.
The complete name is Bonide Systemic Insect Control.
Only identifier on bottle is 64510209

I feel like a fool as it was rushing before dark and I grabbed a bottle I had previously marked as Triazicide...I've since relabeled the sprayer and will be more diligent in the future.

[TZ -OH6]

A half life of one week would be as follows

1 week = 1/2 remains
2 weeks= 1/4 remains
3 weeks = 1/8 remains


I wouldn't worry about the fruit too much. You didn't give them a heavy dose the way a farmer in China would, and you are not eating the leaves.

The pesticide does not get transported into the fruit as easily as it does leaves because the leaves are pulling watersolluble chmicals from the roots and all other parts of the plant, so I would only be really concerned about fruits that got sprayed/were present at ground zero rather than fruit that started life afterwards. The fruit would have its own half life thing going because as it grows and doubles in volume, the pesticide is diluted in addition to being degraded.

example
week 0 Fruit at size 1x, pesticide at level 1
week 1 fruit=2x, pesticide at 1/2 = 1/4 (instead of 1/2)
week 2 fruit =4x, pesticide at 1/4 = 1/16 (instead of 1/4)

By the time a new fruit grows to maturity the chemical would be super diluted in addition to the amount of half life degrdation.

[garden5]

Yeah, I've noticed, too, that some of the ingredients on certain pesticides seem kind of "made up" and un-scientific.

[cynthia_h]

Yeah, I've noticed, too, that some of the ingredients on certain pesticides seem kind of "made up" and un-scientific.

Please explain?

Cynthia

[adrianbarrs]

Very helpful.
What ever did we do before the Internet?