Broad protection

Photos courtesy of OHP

There are lots of pests and diseases out there that are after your plants. Against such overwhelming foes, it’s important to have the right disease prevention and control tools. For a grower who needs broad spectrum prevention and control of diseases for greenhouse vegetables and herbs, OHP offers the OMRI-listed Grotto® fungicide/bactericide.

“Grotto is a formulation of copper octanoate,” says Carlos E. Bográn, senior technical manager at OHP. “It’s a copper product which is both fungicide and bactericide, so it provides a broad spectrum of control of diseases.”

Grotto is labeled for several diseases, including bacterial leaf spots and blights, fungal leaf spots, anthracnose, downy mildew, powdery mildew, fire blight, rhizoctonia and bacterial diseases. “Across crops, whether they’re vegetables or herbs, copper products, and in particular this grade and formulation, are very safe and very effective,” he says.

“The active ingredient Is copper octanoate, which, in simple words, is a copper soap at 10% active ingredient. And this is a liquid formulation, compared to most other copper products, which are dry formulations,” Bográn says. “The liquid formulation makes it easier for the user to measure the product and to mix it with water.”

“Some other copper products, because they’re dry formulations, tend to precipitate and go to the bottom of the tank, unless there’s consistent agitation of the tank,” Bográn elaborates. “You don’t have that issue with a liquid formulation like Grotto.”

Grotto can also be tank-mixed with things like other fungicides and with insecticides, and it mixes well with water. But it doesn’t quite mix with everything. “The only things that we don’t recommend you mix Grotto with are products that are going to lower the pH of the water and may increase the risk of phytotoxicity to the plant,” Bográn explains.

Another advantage that Grotto has over other copper products is that, because of its lower metallic copper equivalent, its reentry interval is considerably shorter. “One of the best characteristics is its short reentry interval of four hours, so it’s very convenient to use on high intensity, high activity crops like greenhouse vegetables and herbs,” Bográn says. “Some other copper products may have a 24-hour or a 48-hour reentry interval, so that’s what distinguishes Grotto. It’s a very short reentry interval for copper.”

Grotto’s low metallic copper equivalent also makes it safe on plants, but it does require more frequent application. “So it’s ideal for short-term greenhouse crops with which growers need to enter the greenhouse and be active on the crop really soon after treatment but don’t require long, extended control,” Bográn explains.

“Grotto is a very user-friendly liquid formulation for greenhouse crops, including ornamentals, edibles, vegetables and herbs,” Bográn says. “It’s very easy to incorporate into any spray program. You can use it on its own as a preventative against bacterial and fungal diseases, including leaf spots and powdery mildew, or you can mix it with other products to widen the spectrum of control or to increase the residual.”

This flexibility makes Grotto an ideal product for growers looking to protect any of their crops from diseases.