Oil Properties    Pest Control   Disease Control   Bloom Delay  Blossom Thinning   Physiology/Phytotoxicity

About Botanical Oils and this site Several botanical oils were exempted in 1996 by EPA from normal pesticide-registration requirements because they were considered relatively safe to humans, not persistent in the environment, and had no known significant adverse effects on the environment. S. R. Crutchfield, of the USDA, suggested in the 1992 Yearbook of Agriculture that agriculture should promote environmental quality by supplying environmentally friendly products that substitute for petroleum products. Soybean oil is the most abundant plant oil in the United States. Since 1992, we have researched the use of soybean oil to: Delay fruit tree bloom Thin fruit load Reduce insect and mite populations Reduce disease occurence Abstracts: Economics of fruit production with soybean oil spray instead of petroleum oil spray and synthetic insecticides  Soybean oil delays peach bloom, thins fruit and kills insects and mites Publications  We gratefully acknowledge the financial assistance of: United Soybean Board Tennessee Soybean Promotion Board  Horticultural Research Institute  University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture Research Collaborators

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