Anyone familiar with Actinovate?

[treebeard55]

Is anyone here familiar with a product called Actinovate? It's described as a biological fungicide; the active ingredient is a bacterium, Streptomyces lydicus.

Ryan Neil recommends it, and I'm considering using it to combat Dothistroma and another fungus on ponderosa pines. My biggest concern is the possibility of injury to mycorrhizal fungi.

Thoughts?

 

[Wires_Guy_wires]

It produces aspecific antibiotics so it can potentially hurt your myc. That myc by itself also provides some protection to some extent.

But.. it's a biocontrol agents that is known and described since the 1995's, so if it was truly great at what it does we would see it used more broadly and more often. In line with trichoderma harzarium and viride, it seems that it's mostly a hit or miss kind of thing. If it was a great hit, I assume it would be sold everywhere.

 

[Bonsai Nut]

Dothistroma is a needle blight, while Streptomyces lydicus is a soil bacterium that is recommended for soil-borne pathogens like phytopthora. You say "another fungus" so I don't know everything you are dealing with, but I would normally treat a needle blight on pines with a topical fungicide that includes copper.

Watching Ryan's videos it is very apparent that he deals with a lot of issues related to his climate - the cooler temps, high humidity, and incessant rainfall. I had almost no fungus issues when I lived in SoCal, but now that I am in NC they are popping up a little more. For me, prevention is key, and I spray a rotation of Heritage, Clearys 3336 and Mancozeb each spring (7-10 days between each application). Heritage and Clearys are systemics, while the Mancozeb is topical. This was a rotation that was considered the gold standard among the SoCal bonsai clubs for proactive spring treatment.

I don't do anything with my soil, but most of my trees are in inorganic mixes, which reduces soil fungus issues.

 

[bwaynef]

Also, from what I see, Actinovate doesn't list Dothistroma among the pathogens it controls. The phyton family of fungicides seem to offer some control of it.

 

[Wires_Guy_wires]

I though Ryan Neil and that leaf compound/content specialist had all diseases under control by throwing an analysis and calcium at the issue. I remember podcasts of the guy saying he could fix any disease by doing analyses and adjusting the nutrient profile. Even the Puglia olives!

Why use biocontrol too if it works so well, I wonder.
Not to shit on Neil, but please, Ryan, dude.. It's something else every six months and none of it ever seems to stick.
Compost, silica, carbon, nutrient profiling, calcium, and now microbial warfare. I'm interested but not convinced in any way of these methodologies unless I see some long term results or a convincing report.