I have no desire to break anyone's lunch bowl. However, I was the product manager for Kocide when I was a graduate trainee in Shell (which had the overseas franchise for the product at the time.) This gives a certain insight into the product. It is used on and intended to be used on mature tree crops, mostly in third world countries: we sold to the cacao plantations in Ghana, various banana plantations and into coffee. It is a cheap and not very effective preventative of spore germination and hypha propagation in mildews, and works only if the leaf surface is extensively coated. It is of course a copper product, and it leaves a residue of insoluble copper oxides (etcetera as these react) in the soil / potting medium / support. These residues will increase with application, without limit. They will tend to kill 'helpful' fungi that orchids (and others) need to extract nutrients, and they are toxic to meristems (foci of freshly dividing cells), such as root caps.
Kocide is probably fifty years old. There are now much better fungicides available. It is not legal for anyone without formal qualifications to offer advice about pesticides in some US states, so I will not do this. This text may not be used to imply acceptance of liability on the part of the author in respect of any action which the reader may take as a result having read it, which action or actions are made entirely at their own risk. That said, some orchid growers use propiconazole, which is a systemic triazole fungicide that is sold as Banner, Benit, Desmel, Orbit, Radar, Tilt, Fidis, Alamo, Spire, Practis, Bumper, Mantis, Restore, Banner Maxx, Taspa, Juno, Novel and Break. ______________________________ Oliver Sparrow +44 (0)1628 823187 www.chforum.org _______________________________________________ the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD) orchids@orchidguide.com http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com
