4 key Biosolutions products for growers

SPONSORED BY OHP

OHP’s Biosolutions line has several products available to growers looking for an alternative to traditional chemistry. Below, Technical Services Manager Dr. Carlos Bográn offers his insight into three products: Ancora, Azatin O and Pycana.

Ancora

“Ancora is the microbial insecticide. It is formulated from a fungus, Isaria fumosorosea, from a strain that is tolerant or adapted to our greenhouse production systems. This is a strain that is first documented in Apopka, in central Florida, in a greenhouse situation. The strain of these microbial insecticides become relative because if those strains are adapted to the wrong environmental conditions, they have less of window of environmental conditions at which they work better.

“Ancora is from a locally-adapted strain of a fungus that basically parasitizes the insect pest and kills it. That's how it works. The difference between Ancora and other products is that Ancora is formulated on a different type of spore than other products. These fungi have resting spores that are designed to withstand for longer periods of time.” - Dr. Carlos Bográn

For more information on Ancora, click here. 

Azatin O

“One standout product is original Azadirachtin, Azatin O. Azatin O is the longest-running label of Azadirachtin at the relatively high concentration of active ingredients. There are two types of main products and people get them confused. First, there's Azadirachtin formulated into individual products. But there's also neem oil. And actually neem oil has very little Azadirachtin. We have both the Azadirachtin concentrate, the 4.5 Azadirachtin option and we have neem oil, which is called Triact 70.

“Both are neem products that can be used in programs. Azatin O is very broad spectrum, but friendly on natural enemies. It's a product of extract from the neem tree that's actually formulated in the U.S., by a trusted manufacturing partner.” - Dr. Carlos Bográn

For more information on Azatin O, click here.

Kalmor

”Kalmor is our fungicide/bactericide and features a formulation that is new by the manufacturer that hadn't been available with that label in our industry. That active ingredient is copper hydroxide. There are other products with the same active ingredient in the market. But the nice thing about our formulation is that the particle size is very small. And that provides more potential solubility. Because if you think about just the physics of it, if you have more particles, there's more surface area around which the water can interact with the particle.”- Dr. Carlos Bográn

For more information on Kalmor, click here.

Pycana

“The cool thing about Pycana is even though it's an oil, it's very safe on, not only foliage, but also flowers. That's what distinguishes it. It's canola oil and it's highly refined and it's almost food grade because it's canola oil. It's combination with natural pyrethrins, which are not pyrethroids, they're natural pyrethrins, that are quickly degraded by the environment. It's a quick knockdown insecticide/miticide because if it's got oil, it's got miticidal activity. It provides an additional tool for quick knockdown of insects, pests or mites and then growers can continue to use more preventative products.”- Dr. Carlos Bográn

For more information on Pycana, click here.