Spray adjuvants are additives to spray solutions that make the spray application more effective. All Phase may be the best spray adjuvant of them all, and here’s why.
- What Sprays Stays
- Increases biological activity of most pesticides it is mixed with (not recommended for pesticide formulations containing acids.
- Polymers in All Phase lock your pesticides to leaf surfaces.
- Adds the biological activity of the World’s trusted food preservative, Potassium Sorbate.
The super silica surfactants might like to claim superiority to other spray adjuvants, but they are only superior in reducing the surface tension of water. This allows droplets to spread and reduces the tendency of droplets to bead on waxy leaves. Reducing surface tension can also prove detrimental in that if you spray to thoroughly wet foliage you could very well decrease the amount of pesticide remaining on your crop. This is because spray droplets are more likely to drip from foliage with reduced surface tension. See how the 5 microliter droplets of HiWett solution run In Figure 1 in comparison to 5 microliter droplets of All Phase solution.
Figure 1. Vertical Leaf Drip Test
Some manufacturers of these super silica surfactants recommend spraying less volume per acre in order to reduce drip. Will spraying less volume really give you better spray coverage and pesticide deposition? Water sensitive papers were held vertically and sprayed with solutions of All Phase and HiWett in an attempt to maximize spray coverage without having spray drip. Figure 2 shows the best results we could achieve with each treatment. The color blue indicates the arrangement and intensity of spray deposited. With All Phase, what sprays, stays.
Figure 2. Maximum Pre-drip Deposition of HiWett Solution Spray (top) on Vertical Surface as Compared with Spray of All Phase Solution (bottom).
All Phase also increases biological activity of most pesticides it is mixed with. This is because All Phase slows the drying time or spray droplets, keeping them at their biologically active optimum for a longer duration.
In comparing the drying time of 5 microliter droplets of water, HiWett solution, and All Phase solution, the All Phase solution droplets remained visibly wet 50% longer than HiWett solution droplets, and 27% longer than water droplets.
Figure 3. Solutions of All Phase Stay Wet Longer
In addition to increasing pesticide retention and biological activity, when All Phase dries your pesticides are locked down to plant surfaces in a film of naturally derived polymers, giving them a few extra days of staying power. All Phase is also an effective fungicide and bactericide, protecting plants from a range of plant diseases with complex, natural modes of action.
And to be fair to the super silica surfactants, they have a strong effect on cell membranes, and for pesticides effecting cellular membranes are superior. We like mixing HiWett with All Phase for eradicating powdery mildews and other fungal diseases.
