WA State Approves Nutrol Fungicide for Use in Cannabis Production

HAZLET, N.J. - Nov. 7, 2016 - PRLog -- Nutrol is a fungicide newly approved for cannabis production for the treatment of powdery mildew fungal disease.Nutrol, distributed byPerformance Nutrition, a division of LidoChem, Inc., is included in the Washington State Department of Agriculture's (WSDA) recently released list of pesticides that are federally registered and meet additional criteria defined by the State of Washington for use with cannabis crops. Nutrol is a biopesticide registered with the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and is a foliarly applied fungicide suitable for use with a wide range of food crops for the prevention and eradication of powdery mildew.

While the EPA has not received any applications specifically for pesticide use on cannabis, the WSDA has compiled a list of pesticides that meet its cannabis compatibility criteria. Alternatively, growers can access Washington State University's (WSU) free, searchable, Pesticide Information Center Online database where WSDA's list is incorporated into one of over 20 searchable fields. Label PDFs are also available to use in determining whether individual products are suitable for growing conditions.

Dr. Catherine Daniels, director of the Washington State Pest Management Resource Service (WSPRS) at WSU, explained that registration of pesticides is often critical for successful pest control in crops and industries that have few other pest management options.

"If problems can't be successfully and reliably addressed, the crop can't be grown in that geographic area… At the same time, society has laws about being protective of humans and the environment, so growers are limited to using either registered pesticides or materials that are exempt from registration. If there are no materials registered, the grower must rely on materials exempt from registration. Those materials may not always be strong enough to control pests, so the grower is back to either not growing the crop or having sporadic yields," Daniels said.

The WSDA grants the use of a pesticide on cannabis if the active ingredient is exempt from the requirements of a tolerance on food crops, and if the label has directions for use on unspecified food crops, home gardens, or herbs.

Nutrol's recognition as an approved water-soluble fungicide for use on cannabis is a significant step towards safer and more reliable crop production in Washington's growing cannabis industry.

Nutrol prevents and corrects foliar and soil borne diseases, is a highly concentrated fertilizer (0-52-30), and can be used as a tank buffer and water conditioner.

About Performance Nutrition

LidoChem, Inc.'s Performance Nutrition Division was established in 1999 to develop new "greener" products and technologies for the agricultural and turf markets. The Performance Nutrition product line of agricultural, turf and ornamental, crop protection, soil amendment and specialty fertilizers is tailored to meet the ever-increasing demand for new and safer crop and turf disease control and nutritional products. www.pnfertilizers.com, info@PNFertilizers.com, (732) 888-8000.

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