Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

I was researching the UVI system, and they mentioned Botanaguard. I found some locally, and tried it this week. It seems to be working very well on the little devils. The label gives rates in lbs per 100 gallons, so it took a while to figure out small dose rates. Looks like about 1.6 tsp per qt. At that rate, it will last a very long time. No problems with fish, and also didn't seem to bother the lizards, ladybugs, and wasps present. I would prefer to use no pesticides, but with the GH covered, it just wasn't working...not enough beneficials getting in, and I couldn't find anyone to ship wasps until mid March. That's one very good thing about verticals...like Dr. Nate Story says...you can easily remove them and take them away to spray and then put them back. Unfortunately, my whitefly seemed to like my GB's better then verticals.

Where did you find Botaniguard? I've been wanting to give it a try, but man it's expensive.

Just read the MSDS and it states that it may be toxic to fish.

As Skeggley just posted ... I would not use it in an AP system.


>>Other Precautions:
Potentially pathogenic to honey bees. This product may be toxic to fish

I use the encarsea wasp amd I don't spray and at the moment have no white fly.

UVI apparently has used it for quite some time. I read about the possible honeybee issue, and spray late in the afternoon/early evening when the pump is off. I feel pretty confident since it's been tested at UVI on their raft system for some time now. It's a naturally occurring bacteria, like BT, with a very high safety rating. It's either use it or lose crops to the whitefly, as nothing else has worked. During the rest of the year, when the GH is open, I get enough encarsea wasps to keep them in check, but during the winter, that isn't the case. So far, the whitefly are knocked down, fish are still looking good and eating, and hopefully, I will not have to do much more spraying until next Fall. Not sure if a GB with no pump on has more or less exposure then DWC beds. The towers are easy, take them down, move them outside, spray with Neem or Botanaguard, let dry, and hang back up. Not so easy on the GB and DWC beds.lol