Proactive Bio Fungicide Program 2017

[andy10917]

Did it get frozen or sit next to the oil burner all winter?

[lawndad]

Is Serenade bought last fall still good now? I wonder if the bacteria are still loyal or have they all left the house.

Did you do your first Serende application yet?

[seiyafan]

It was kept in the garage around 50 degrees in the winter. No I haven't done the first application yet.

[andy10917]

If the temperatures were reasonable, it should be OK.

[micvog]

Last year I followed the "don't mix the biofungicide with anything I wouldn't wash my dog with" rule, which I interpreted to exclude the use of a surfactant (in hindsight, since surfactants are in many soaps, that may have been a wrong conclusion ).

I was looking at the label on Serenade and it states:

To enhance performance, consider adding a surfactant, known to be safe to the target crop, to the spray tank to improve penetration and coverage of above-ground portions of the plant .

That makes sense to me since, at least in my case, I am worried about foliar diseases.

My question is who uses a surfactant and what has been your experience with respect to effectiveness?

[andy10917]

A surfactant is exactly what you would wash your dog with. And it helps.

[lawndad]

A surfactant is exactly what you would wash your dog with. And it helps.

What is a good cheap surfactant to add to the Serende applications? Baby soap?

[northeastlawn]

Thanks for this thread it has been helpful.

Is it OK to start spraying serenade on areas I over-seeded. My gut says it might be OK, because your giving it a small does of good stuff.

But then again the grass is young and spraying it with a living thing might hurt the new grass, so I guess I am not sure....

[andy10917]

Serenade is fine on areas that have been overseeded.

[Billybob]

A surfactant is exactly what you would wash your dog with. And it helps.

What is a good cheap surfactant to add to the Serende applications? Baby soap?

I usually go to the dollar store and pick up shampoo

[andy10917]

Obviously, no antibacterial stuff.

[lawndad]

I'm definitely glad I started this thread. Thanks for everyone's input.

Johnsons and Johnsons it is for my surfactant. How many oz. of soap should I add to my 1 gal. of water mix?

I did my first application of Serenade yesterday at 2oz/1 gal. of water per 1,000 sq. ft. I saw that dollar spot and Take All Patch (never even heard of that one) is active in NJ now. My neighbors looks to have Red Thread already... I know Andy you had posted that you do your Serenade every 3 weeks in the beginning, how many days apart should my applications be now that disease is here? Do you just go outside and feel the weather to determine when you apply and how many oz. per 1 gal. of water or do you use the fungicide website telling you disease is here?

[andy10917]

Johnsons and Johnsons it is for my surfactant. How many oz. of soap should I add to my 1 gal. of water mix?

This is the price you pay for using shampoo instead of a commercial surfactant - Johnson and Johnson does not publish instructions for using it as a surfactant, nor does it publish how much surfactant is in an ounce of shampoo. You're on your own.

I know Andy you had posted that you do your Serenade every 3 weeks in the beginning, how many days apart should my applications be now that disease is here? Do you just go outside and feel the weather to determine when you apply and how many oz. per 1 gal. of water or do you use the fungicide website telling you disease is here?

I'll say it just one more time - you watch what the weather is and look at lawns around your town, and go up and down with that combination of info, co-op extensions and what people are discussing here. If you think funguses are very active now, you will drive yourself nuts long before the fungus season really cranks up in mid-June.

[lawndad]

Johnsons and Johnsons it is for my surfactant. How many oz. of soap should I add to my 1 gal. of water mix?

This is the price you pay for using shampoo instead of a commercial surfactant - Johnson and Johnson does not publish instructions for using it as a surfactant, nor does it publish how much surfactant is in an ounce of shampoo. You're on your own.

I know Andy you had posted that you do your Serenade every 3 weeks in the beginning, how many days apart should my applications be now that disease is here? Do you just go outside and feel the weather to determine when you apply and how many oz. per 1 gal. of water or do you use the fungicide website telling you disease is here?

I'll say it just one more time - you watch what the weather is and look at lawns around your town, and go up and down with that combination of info, co-op extensions and what people are discussing here. If you think funguses are very active now, you will drive yourself nuts long before the fungus season really cranks up in mid-June.

Sounds good. What surfactant do you use that is manufactured specifically for that?

[andy10917]

No such thing. A good starter surfactant for small/medium lawns is Bonide's "Turbo Sticker". For the larger lawn, consider the "80/20" surfactant-by-the-gallon at TSC. I got a new one today at TSC.

[Billybob]

This is a good one

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Bonide-Produ ... 3=&veh=sem

[lawndad]

No such thing. A good starter surfactant for small/medium lawns is Bonide's "Turbo Sticker". For the larger lawn, consider the "80/20" surfactant-by-the-gallon at TSC. I got a new one today at TSC.

Sounds good. I'll look into that, thank you.

[Billybob]

I never used sufactant in Serenade....I was under the impression we didn't mix chemicals with live organisms.

[andy10917]

It's up to you. I don't care one way or the other whether surfactant is counted as a chemical or not - it's an edge case. There are valid pro's and con's to either position.

[northeastlawn]

There seems to be a range of 1-3tbsp of Bonide Turbo Sticker per gallon. Any recommendations on how much to use with Serrenade?