Hello, good to hear from you.
Yes, Southern Ag has packaged and sold a product in this category for
a couple of years now.
My problem with these products is not that they are completely
ineffective but that the claims for them are generally excessive and
sometimes wildly so. Also that the instructions provided are not
generally helpful. And that none of them, except possibly Serenade
and Revitalize, is really new or innovative. Any of the newer ones
are nothing more than a re-packaging of something that has been
around since the late 90s. And often accompanied by some very
flowery language and a high price.
It appears that most of the beneficial properties have been achieved
in the lab and not in the field, so that when you are looking for some help
against a fungus infection you may be very disappointed.
The routine that I have detailed, though an accidental discovery, has
worked extremely well for me over two full seasons. Prior to using
this combination, I could expect my tomatoes to be severely infected
by late June (PA, zone 5b) and nearly dead by the end of July. I'm
talking about early blight here; perhaps I could have been more
explicit. With this combination, I am seeing virtually no signs of infection
until late August and full-bore production until a hard frost.
With regard to the material you have, I would probably go ahead and
use the Southern Ag stuff and, of course, the Cu octanoate. Whereas
neither of them has been fully effective in my garden, used together
as I have described, they have given an improvement that I consider
truly spectacular. And I would stick to the pattern as I have stated
since in my own mind it is "proven" although so far I am the only one
who knows that.
I see that you mention neem oil but am not sure how you would use it.
I guess there would be several ways.
My first step though, I consider essential because of the need for the
actual biofungicide to "colonize" the plant surfaces. It looks as if the
spreader-sticker in the first step may assist the bacillus in accomplishing
that. I don't fully understand why but that is what worked. I've searched
the research publications and though they talk a lot about "colonization",
I found no instance where anyone was able to demonstrate that
outside the lab. If you do this step, please be careful with your
chemicals. Copper can be phytotoxic and I did get some of that effect
at higher concentration. I've set my limit at 1 tablespoon per gallon of
water for that reason.
I hope this clarifies things a little but maybe not. If you have any questions
please ask.
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