RESEARCH: Testing Product Efficacy

All businesses, from cannabis cultivators and product manufacturers to fast-food restaurants, go through the same process before launching a new product: They test, test, and retest their product.

Plant health specialists and scientists at Arborjet did exactly that this past summer with their latest product: Eco-1 Garden Spray.

“We’re excited about the versatility and ease of use of Eco-1 Garden Spray. It can be used on a variety of crops with a wide range of application equipment, and is designed for broad spectrum insect, mite, and disease control,” says Arborjet’s Horticulture Technical Specialist Matt Andrus.

Over June and July 2017, Arborjet tested their all-purpose product on apple trees infected with both powdery mildew and rosy apple aphids. As Eco-1 is intended to treat both mold and pest issues, applications were made to treat both infections.

According to the study, applications were made on July 12, and again on July 17, while aphid counts were conducted on old and new foliage on July 13 and again on July 21. Density of live aphids was determined by tallying the number on sub-sample of two leaf punches and calculated per square centimeter.

The results? “The number of live aphids on the new foliage of apples was evident on July 13 (18 aphids /cm²) but no live aphids were evident in the July 21 evaluation, indicative of 100-percent efficacy of [Eco-1] Garden Spray as a contact insecticide,” the study authors reported.

As for the powdery mildew outbreak, apple trees treated with Eco-1 were more than 100 times less damaged than trees left untreated and powdery mildew was not present at all in any new foliage after being treated, according to the report.

“Eco-1 provides broad-spectrum control, treating common issues like powdery mildew and aphids using botanical oils that smell great and won’t burn under grow lights,” Andrus says.

_{Photos courtesy of Arborjet}