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  • From: "Liz Pike" <liz AT laughingbrookfarm.com>
  • To: "Market Farming" <market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: [Market-farming] Fw: [SANET-MG] Innovative pest management
  • Date: Thu, 15 Apr 2004 14:23:47 -0400

http://www.1stenvirosafety.com/index.html

Farming with Farm-Grown Products?
Florida Farmers Report Outstanding Results Using Botanical Cleanser

PINE ISLAND , Fla. -- Our mothers used to say that clean hands are happy
hands. Some growers in Florida are now saying that clean plants are happy
plants - very, very happy plants.

"Nobody understands how, but it works," says Robert Murray, owner of
Treehouse Nursery on Pine Island and one of Florida 's top growers of
tropical trees. "And why would I argue with this kind of success?"

Murray started spraying mango trees covered in fungus and scale last spring
with an all-purpose cleaner manufactured by 1st EnviroSafety, a neighboring
Pine Island business. "At first I thought it was crazy, but I'll try
anything once," he says. He hasn't used anything toxic since that first
trial. "We haven't needed too - for the first time in years we don't have
any scale, mites, fungus or whitefly, even on sensitive plants like mangos,
guavas and lychees."

Plant growth and productivity have skyrocketed. Black zapote production
increased dramatically, both in number of fruit and the size of each fruit.
Persimmons that should be two-foot bare sticks grew to seven feet tall and
were covered with new growth in October. In January, mango trees covered in
new growth suddenly sprouted blooms - something Murray had never seen
before.

"I called the EPA and told them to come pick up all the poisonous stuff I
had been using," Murray said. "This cleanser is saving me thousands of
dollars a year, plus I don't have to worry about my health, my workers'
health or dealing with government agencies."

But, he cautions other growers, it takes a different mindset to use a
cleanser instead of a toxic pesticide. "You need to stop thinking in terms
of amount of product per acre and start thinking 'wash.' Complete coverage
to the point of run-off is necessary in most instances."

There's no scientific reason why a cleaner would have such positive
results, notes Don Wilshe , CEO of 1st EnviroSafety, but Murray's
experience is being replicated on farms, nurseries, groves and gardens
across the state. "We don't understand it either, but it feels incredibly
good to be manufacturing a product that makes it possible to farm with
farm-grown products."

When diluted, the cleanser is 99.5% natural, formulated with American-grown
soybeans, corn and other plant products. The biobased ingredients are
broken down into colloidal cells so small they can only be seen with an
electron microscope. In a cleanser, those tiny cells harness the power of
nanotechnology to penetrate oil and dirt molecules, so they break down into
harmless substances that are easy to wipe away.

The cleanser is so effective it was recently accepted as a bioremediation
agent by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection for petroleum
and other contaminants. "We'd love to see what happens on land that has
been treated with high levels of pesticides in the past," Wilshe adds.

It all started when Mike Vaughan, a 1st EnviroSafety distributor in Miami ,
decided to spray the cleanser on the mango trees in his yard early in 2002.
"They were in pretty sad shape so we didn't have anything to lose," he
said. After a couple of sprays, the new growth showed no signs of pests or
fungus, and blooms were particularly profuse.

Then, just as the trees were covered in nearly ripe fruit, a no-name storm
swept across South Florida with 70 mph winds. "My neighbors lost nearly all
of their fruit but we didn't lose but about 20% of our crop," Vaughan said.
"It looks like the cleanser washed away mold on the mango stems so they
were strong enough to hold onto the fruit until it ripened."

Clean tomatoes grew 10 feet tall, covered with "the best tasting tomatoes
I've had since I was a kid," Vaughan said. He took some of the cleanser to
Murray, who had similar results. Both began talking other growers into
trying the cleanser.

In Melbourne , Jim Shellenback is building a business by focusing on
properties with distressed landscaping and reviving them without having to
use expensive chemicals. "Somehow cleaning the lawn and ornamental plants
really makes a difference," he says. "Maybe it's just the fact that they're
able to absorb more nutrients and oxygen but you can see a difference
almost immediately in lawns and ornamental plants like hibiscus and
hawthorns."

The owner of True Lawn, Inc., Shellenback also uses the cleaner on sago
palms that have been attacked by cycad aulacaspis scale insects. "It looks
like the cleanser breaks down the adhesive that holds the scale on the
plant," he said. "We spray the cleanser and go back 20 minutes later with a
high-pressure hose to knock them off."

For Jeanne Smith, retired owner of a u-pick flower farm on Pine Island who
still has more than 300 orchids, spraying the 1st EnviroSafety cleanser is
convenient and easy to use. "I'd been using insecticidal soap and a
toothbrush to get the brown scale off the orchids, but it's much easier to
spray the cleanser."

Along with her plants, Smith sprays screen porches, decorative-block
walkways and outside carpeting with the cleanser. "The plants look much
better because they're clean, and I haven't had any mold or mildew on my
outdoor carpeting and walkways since I started using it."

Farmers have used insecticidal soaps for hundreds of years, controlling
susceptible insects by washing away the insect's protective coating surface
and disrupting normal membrane functions, notes Wilshe. "It's a different
process, but it appears to be similar," he said. "However, traditional
soaps rely on potassium salts of fatty acids, which can cause
phytotoxicity, particularly during Florida 's hot summer months. We haven't
heard of any problems with phytotoxicity because our cleanser doesn't have
any oil in it."

In fact, some growers are reporting yield increases of up to 300% because
plants seem to absorb more nutrients and resist heavy winds more
effectively, say Wilshe and Murray. They also report significant savings
because they're using one product rather than multiples, such as
pesticides, mitecides, nemacides and fungicides, and they've minimized
their exposure to workmen's compensation claims and lawsuits from
customers, workers or neighbors claiming chemical exposure.

In environmentally sensitive areas like Pine Island , using a biobased
cleaner also eliminates concerns about long-term liability for groundwater
pollution and future land sales, Murray notes. And finally, the cleaner is
much less expensive and does not require government supervision when
purchasing and using.

The next step, says Wilshe, is working with the federal government to label
the cleanser for use on crops. "We're already working with the U.S.
Department of Agriculture in a pilot program that tests biobased products
for content and efficacy as part of the 2002 Farm Bill, but they're
focusing on cleaning floors, not plants."

The Farm Bill requires that federal agencies purchase biobased products
whenever possible to reduce the nation's reliance on imported petroleum,
Wilshe notes. "Biobased just is the right thing to do - it's renewable,
it's environmentally friendly, and it increases markets for American
farmers. Even though plant cleansers aren't a priority in Washington right
now, we expect that to change when people see how easy it is to farm with
farm-grown products."





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