The Value of Christmas Trees

"...there is no reason why the joy associated with the Christmas evergreen may not be a means of arousing in the minds of children an appreciation of the beauty and usefulness of trees; and keen appreciation of the beauty and usefulness of trees is a long stop toward the will to plant and care for them (Arthur Sowder, US Forest Service, 1949)."

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Movento Gets Relabeled

According to an October 18, 2010 press release from Bayer CropScience, Movento insecticide has received EPA registration for a second time. The original registration of Movento was cancelled because of administrative errors committed by EPA during its initial review and approval of the active ingredient, spirotetramat, in 2008.

I have been working with this systemic material for the control of many pests of Fraser fir including balsam twig aphid, balsam woolly adelgid, elongate hemlock scale, and mites. I have been interested in Movento because it is systemic, has the potential to control a wide variety of pests, and is less toxic than many pesticides used on Christmas trees.

When I work with new products, I like to conduct my own spray trials where I can closely determine initial pest levels and really see how well the product is working. But I also like to get the product into the hands of growers to see how well it works in real farm situations. With the issues with the labeling of Movento, I haven't been able to work as much with the product as I would have liked. This ruling by EPA clears the way for more complete evaluations.

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