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Home Mixing of Bluestone is Banned?
Have Irish organic growers been breaking the law this summer?According to the Dept of Agriculture they have. Organic Matters has been informed by the Department of Agriculture that the mixing of home-produced fungicidal sprays compounded from copper sulphate, in the form of Bordeaux and Burgundy mixtures for the control of potato blight, is no longer permitted.
Mr. Nicky Stafford of the Department states: "The Department of Agriculture, Food and Rural Development wishes to remind crop producers that the use of such home-made mixtures, made up from commodity chemicals such as copper sulphate, and applied as fungicides to crops, is not permitted under national law". The use of registered proprietary Burgundy and Bordeaux mixtures, however, are permitted - the register is available on the Department of Agriculture and Food's web site'.
Traditionally, farmers mixed their own blight remedies and Burgundy and Bordeaux mixtures were allowed in restricted circumstances under organic standards. The solution was mixed fresh before use as, all the advice suggests, that it rapidly loses its effectiveness if not used immediately. Bordeaux mixture contains copper sulphate (bluestone) and hydrated lime. Burgundy mixture is a combination of copper sulphate and washing soda or baking soda.
I contacted Mr. Frank Macken, Chief Inspector in the Organic Unit of the Department of Agriculture who informed me that under EU regulation only fungicides approved by the Department may be used. He was unable to say what particular proprietary mixtures were approved but he referred me to the Department's website. The pesticide unit of the Department has its own section on this site (www.pcs.agriculture.gov.ie) and there is a facility that allows you to make a search either by 'product name' or 'active substance' or 'function and crop'. I entered Bordeaux mixture, and the search came up with one product which appears to contain only copper sulfate (sic) and thus strictly speaking cannot be describes as Bordeaux mixture. I could not find any product listed under Burgundy mixture. I searched under 'active substance' by entering copper sulphate and a listing for Bio Chestnut Compound appeared. This contains ammonium carbonate and copper sulfate and therefore would not qualify as either Burgundy or Bordeaux mixture. Finally I searched under 'function' and 'crop' by entering 'fungicide' and 'potato' respectively and this search yielded forty-seven different products all of which I'm pretty sure are not allowed under organic standards. My next option was to go back to the 'product name' section and trawl through a very long list of technical names and enter any that contained the word copper. This yielded four different brands of fungicide and, not being a chemist, I was not in a position to judge if ammonium carbonate, copper carbonate or copper oxychloride are permitted under organic standards but if they are none of them can be described as Burgundy or Bordeaux mixtures. In fact, none of the products listed as approved on the Departments website appear to qualify as either of these two mixtures.
Based on the assumption that all or any of these products are permitted for use I contacted four agri-chemical retail outlets and one national distributor to check their availability. None of the outlets stocked or had heard of these products. This comes as no surprise as chemical companies are unlikely to be bothered manufacturing a product used by a small minority of horticultural producers, and retailers are equally unlikely to stock it. The Department of Agriculture, it seems, is forcing organic growers to contribute to the coffers of chemical companies by making it unlawful for them to use any remedy other than one approved by the Department. What does a hard pressed grower have to do to live within the law? If no approved blight remedy exists can a grower apply to the Department to be registered to make an approved Burgundy or Bordeaux mixture at home? One obvious solution would be for the Department to publish what brands of fungicide are permitted for use as their counterparts in Northern Ireland have done recently in their Summer Organic Bulletin. This clearly sets out the approved products in the UK and their recommended application rates in relation to the 8kg/ha permitted copper limit up to 2005 and the 6kg/ha limit from 2006 onwards. There are times when the official lip service paid to supporting the organic sector rings a little hollow. As if after this terrible summer organic growers hadn't enough to make them feel blue?
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Burgundy Mixture Recipe to combat Potato Blight.
3:4:5
Add 30 g Bluestone (copper sulphate) to 2 litres of hot water.
In a separate container add 40g washing soda to 3 litres of hot water.
After a half an hour mix the two liquids and spray directly onto the potatoes, making sure to spray under the leave as well.
This 5 litre mixture is enough for 20 square metres.
Organic gardeners are permitted to use bluestone (copper sulphate), but certified growers must get permission
from the organic certification authorities before using the spray.
Spray for Prevention of Insects on Cabbage
Break a clove of garlic into a litre of hot water. Add a spoon of washing liquid.
Mix them together and pour through a sieve.
Spray the mixture directly onto insects every day.
There is another spray - Bacillus thurengiensis – which is available from
Fruit Hill Farm Supplies, Bantry.
+353 (0)27 50710
www.fruithillfarm.com
Hope this helps.