Best Practice for 100% Kona Coffee Farmers.
OMRI is placing one of the inert compounds in Mycotrol O on the “Prohibited” list. On or about August 28th, all organic certifiers will be notified that Mycotrol is delisted and is no longer acceptable for organic application. Be warned that if Mycotrol shows up on your spray logs after this time, it could be detrimental to your certification.
If you intend to spray in the next week or so, we highly recommend you contact your certifier and ask them to advise you when they receive the delisting. If you have product in storage, use it immediately. Distributors have already stopped shipping Mycotrol to Hawaii.
According to Bioworks, the maker of Mycotrol, this OMRI action was a surprise. They do currently have another organic Beauveria product in the works (called ESO) but it is undergoing OMRI approval at this time and is not ready for market. As this approval process can be lengthy, they don’t know when it will be cleared. It must then also be cleared by the HDOA for use here. KCFA will keep you updated on its expected arrival.
In the meantime, Sanitation is your best defense! Stripping raisins during and after harvest will remove beetle populations. Talking with your picking crews about dropped cherry is also important. At the start of next year, using Surround (kaolin) clay as a repellent may help. Closely following all steps of the IPM (except spraying) will best help maintain low beetle levels until ESO is available.
The KCFA IPM sheet is here (link)