4/27/2023 0 Comments Drawberry growing iwthin itself![]() “Arkema has been really good at going around and doing all these air measurements, and they found none over there,” McDonald said. McDonald said he wasn’t sure the family’s theory was accurate. Local media reported both years that a Dover family had become ill during pre-planting season, and they believed that their exposure to Paladin used in fields near their home had caused the sickness. It also includes requirements for a buffer zone, to protect people who live or work close to the fields where Paladin is applied. However, Arkema includes strict, detailed protocol on Paladin’s label that prevents inhalation exposure if followed correctly. Paladin is a restricted-use pesticide, because the EPA expects inhalation exposure at high levels to cause human health problems. “I wouldn’t put it out here this close to my house, this close to my family, if I had any concerns about it,” he said. He lives within 100 yards of a 70-acre field, where he applied the fumigant this year. McDonald said Paladin was safer and more effective than other replacements for methyl bromide. “(Arkema) has taken great strides to limit the smell.”Īndy McDonald is the farm manager for Sweet Life Farms, a Plant City strawberry growing operation that has used Paladin in its fields last year and this year. “TIF has done a fantastic job of capturing and not releasing any of the odor from the fumigation process,” Parker said. ![]() The new tarp is made of Totally Impermeable Film. “We wanted to make a change to make some differences for people living closer to the fields,” said Rob Welker, a product steward for Arkema.Īrkema dictated the use of an improved tarp, which contains the odor more effectively than last year’s tarps. This year, Arkema, the chemical company that produces Paladin, came up with a solution to the odor. Last year, growers in the area received numerous complaints from neighbors, who said the smell was unpleasant and overwhelming. Many Plant City-area growers began using Paladin in 2013, and they have applied it again this year.īecause of its sulfur content, Paladin has an odor that has been compared to garlic or rotting cabbage. “Sometimes, you have to use common sense, and it was not a good common-sense decision to eliminate the use of methyl bromide,” said Kenneth Parker, executive director of the Florida Strawberry Growers Association.īut, he said, Paladin was one of many effective fumigants that had come to the market as a replacement. Methyl bromide was used widely as an effective fumigant, until the EPA banned it in 2005 because it had been depleting the ozone layer and polluting the air. The active ingredient in Paladin is dimethyl disulfide, which is a replacement for methyl bromide. Tarps cover the ground to contain the chemical, and are removed 12 days later. ![]() Before plants are put into the ground, Paladin is injected into the soil. Paladin is used to suppress weeds, soil-borne pathogens and nematodes (parasitic roundworms). In 2013 and this year, a new product has helped growers produce those sweet berries: a soil fumigant called Paladin. Plant City has once again entered strawberry growing season, and families will soon join in the area’s long history of picking berries together and attending the Florida Strawberry Festival.
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