Pesticide Choices: Conventional vs. "Natural"
The pesticides listed in this bulletin are largely conventional synthetic materials, many of which are also used by commercial fruit growers. None is particularly persistent and all tend to degrade over time with exposure to the environment. The materials recommended for specific pest problems were selected for their overall safety, effectiveness, economy, availability and general integration into control programs for other pests present at about the same time. There are also a number of specially formulated "fruit tree mixtures" of pesticides that include one or more insecticides and fungicides. The authors do not advocate the exclusive use of pesticides for disease and insect control, but only as one of several management tactics, including a number of important cultural practices.
Many home gardeners prefer not to use these conventional pesticides in favor of inorganic fungicides such as sulfur and copper compounds or botanical insecticides such as rotenone and pyrethrins. These latter materials are also pesticides and need to be handled as carefully as the conventional materials to ensure the safety of the applicator and the environment. As a rule, most of the botanical insecticides offer protection for only three to five days and so may need to be applied on a more frequent schedule than conventional materials. Materials such as insecticidal soaps may appear attractive due to low toxicity to humans, but kill only on contact and have no residual activity and, thus, have very limited use against most important fruit crop pests.