The Teagasc winter 2007/2008 Mushroom Newsletter carried some interesting updates on pesticide usage.
Certain withdrawn pesticide products merited extra special mention.
The Pesticide Control Service (PCS) issued the following notice to all southern growers on 13th of September 2007: "Formaldehyde is illegal for use on mushroom farms in any guise either as a Plant Protection Product of as a biocide. There should be none of this product on your farm."
That seems clear enough.
There was also a notice on Carbendazim: The approval for Carbendazim (Kapchem Carbendazim Flowable) was withdrawn for use on most crops, including mushrooms, on June 30th 2007."
The maximum use up period for existing stocks is one year (30th June 2008) and Carbendazim should not be used after that date.
As the Teagasc newsletter states, traces of Carbendazim residues can be found in mushrooms, so unauthorised use can be detected.
Anyone wishing to check the current approved list of pesticides can go to the PCS website at www.pcs.agriculture.gov.ie. On the home page click 'Products', then click 'Search by Function/Crop', select 'Search by crop only' and choose the category 'Mushroom' from the menu.
Click on the 'List Products' tab and the list of approved products will then appear.
