A Complete Guide to 40 Pesticide-Sensitive Crops, Worth Saving Before You Plant

As temperatures gradually warm up, pests and diseases become more common, and chemical control is an indispensable means of dealing with them. Some pesticides work very well but cannot be sprayed on sensitive crops. Below is a list of common pesticides, with the crops sensitive to each one listed after them. You may want to save this for reference, read it often, and ideally memorize it, so that improper use does not affect your harvest.

Fungicides

[Lime sulfur mixture] Peach, plum, Japanese apricot, pear, grape, beans, potato, tomato, scallion, ginger, melon, cucumber, etc.

[Bordeaux mixture] Potato, tomato, chili pepper, cucurbits, peach, plum, pear, apple, persimmon, napa cabbage, soybean, wheat, lettuce, etc.

[Mancozeb] Tobacco, Cucurbitaceae, and certain pears. Applying mancozeb when pear fruits are small easily causes spots on the fruit surface. High concentrations can cause necrotic spots on the edges of rice leaves.

[Thiophanate] When controlling pests and diseases of kiwifruit, avoid using thiophanate. It can be mixed with many pesticides, including alkaline agents, but it should not be mixed with copper-based preparations.

[Carbendazim] It can be mixed with general fungicides, but it should be used immediately after mixing. It cannot be mixed with copper-based preparations.

[Chlorothalonil] It easily causes phytotoxicity on pear and persimmon, so it should not be used. It also cannot be used within 20 days after apple blossom drop. High concentrations easily cause phytotoxicity on pear trees, persimmon, peach and Japanese apricot.

[Polysulfide suspension concentrate] Applying high concentrations of polysulfide suspension concentrate and similar products during high-temperature periods can cause sunburn on citrus.

[Sulfur] Cucumber, soybean, potato, plum, pear.

[Flusilazole] Some pear varieties are very sensitive during the young fruit stage (before May), so it must not be used.

[Cuprous oxide] During the fruit-bearing stage and young fruit stage of fruit trees.

[Diniconazole] Watermelon, soybean, chili pepper (phytotoxicity at high concentrations).

Insecticides and Acaricides

[Acephate] It should not be used on mulberry or tea trees.

[Triazophos] Sugarcane. (Note: many places have explicitly prohibited its use on vegetables.)

[Chlorpyrifos] Tobacco. (Note: many places have explicitly prohibited its use on vegetables.)

[Cartap (Padan)] Rice at flowering stage, and seedlings of cruciferous vegetables such as napa cabbage and cabbage.

[Dimehypo] Seedlings of cruciferous vegetables such as napa cabbage and cabbage, and cotton when sprayed on the leaf surface. Beans and citrus fruit trees are sensitive to it, so only low concentrations can be used.

[Monosultap] Cotton, tobacco, snap bean, potato and certain beans.

[Fenobucarb (Bassa)] Cucurbits, beans and Solanaceae crops.

[Isoprocarb] Root and tuber crops.

[Carbaryl (Sevin)] Cucurbits.

[Chlorfluazuron] Napa cabbage seedlings.

[Carbofuran] It can only be applied as a root-zone soil treatment and cannot be dissolved in water for spraying.

[Buprofezin] Napa cabbage, radish.

[Imidacloprid] Beans, cucurbits.

[Petroleum emulsion] It easily causes phytotoxicity on certain peach varieties, so it is best used during the leaf-drop season.

[Rosin mixture] Using rosin mixture in summer causes obvious phytotoxicity on persimmon, and in spring and summer it has adverse effects on citrus.

[Rosin-soda mixture] Deciduous fruit trees are all very sensitive to it, so it should not be used during the summer growing season.

[Propargite] Do not use on pear trees.

[Azocyclotin] 25% azocyclotin wettable powder causes phytotoxicity not only during the spring shoot young leaf stage (low temperature), leading to severe flower drop, leaf drop and fruit drop; during the young fruit stage (when the temperature is below 20°C) it can still cause leaf and fruit deformities. A dilution of 1500-2000 times is appropriate. Its phytotoxicity on navel orange requires further testing.

[Fentin triazole] 20% fentin triazole emulsifiable concentrate at 500 and 2000 times dilution causes phytotoxicity on young spring leaves of citrus.

[Dicofol] When used on citrus (due to its chlorine effect) it easily leads to phytotoxicity; in mild cases the leaves turn grayish white, and in severe cases the old leaves all drop off (the same applies to tetradifon). Certain varieties of hawthorn and apple easily develop phytotoxicity, so it should not be used.

[Dimethoate and omethoate] Kiwifruit and pepino are especially sensitive to dimethoate and omethoate, so their use is prohibited.

Herbicides

[Glyphosate and paraquat] These two non-selective herbicides can only be used for directed spraying between rows of fruit trees to control weeds, and must not be applied to the branches and leaves of fruit trees.

[MCPA-sodium] Broadleaf crops and all kinds of fruit trees should avoid it.

[Atrazine] Peach trees are sensitive to it, so do not use it. Atrazine has a long residual effect and is harmful to sensitive succeeding crops such as wheat, soybean, rice and peach trees. This can be addressed by reducing the application rate and mixing it with other herbicides. It cannot be used where corn is intercropped with beans.

[Butachlor] Application during the early stage of paddy rice in the main field causes brown spots.

[Acetochlor] Cucurbitaceae (cucumber, watermelon, gourd), spinach, Chinese chives.

[Metolachlor (Dual)] Spinach, sorghum, rice, wheat and similar cereals.

[Fenoxaprop-P-ethyl (Puma)] Barley, oat, corn, sorghum.

Growth Regulators

[Gibberellin (920)] When used during the flower and fruit preservation stage of citrus, if the concentration is not well controlled, it will make the fruit smaller, the peel thicker, the taste sour, and cause deformed fruit, etc., reducing yield and quality.

How to Alleviate Phytotoxicity in Plants

① Spray clean water on the leaves to rinse them. If the leaves suffer phytotoxicity, spray clean water several times in succession on the affected area to remove or reduce pesticide residues on the crop leaves.

② Water sufficiently, irrigate to leach out toxins, and wash the soil with irrigation, while allowing the plant roots to absorb a large amount of water, increasing cell moisture, thereby lowering the relative concentration of the chemical in the soil and in the crop body, which helps alleviate phytotoxicity.

③ Cultivate and loosen the soil to promote root growth. Combined with irrigation and the application of Jiamei Hongli, cultivating and loosening the soil can promote root development and enhance the crop's ability to recover.

④ Localized removal. For damage caused by local application or drenching of chemicals on flowers, fruits or flowering branches, the affected fruits and damaged branches can be removed. If the main stem (trunk) suffers phytotoxicity, it should also be combined with the application of Jiamei Jindian or rinsed and disinfected with clean water.

⑤ Apply fulvic acid fertilizer as a top dressing. Spraying or applying Jiamei Yinglilai as a top dressing combined with watering can improve the plant's own ability to resist phytotoxicity, while also promoting crop root growth.

⑥ Spray regulators or hormones. When plants develop phytotoxicity, spray regulators or plant hormones. For example, for phytotoxicity caused by an overdose of inhibitors or retardants such as paclobutrazol, or by an overdose of 2,4-D, gibberellin can be sprayed; for copper sulfate phytotoxicity, 0.5% quicklime water can be sprayed; for phytotoxicity from fruit-setting agent, a 0.5-1% white sugar water solution can be sprayed once every 3-5 days, and after 2-3 days the leaves will slowly begin to spread out; after broadleaf plants are mistakenly treated with the herbicide MCPA, the leaves become damaged and turn white, and two bags of Jiamei Jindian can be mixed with 30 jin of water and poured around the base of each plant, after which the leaves can recover and turn green in 3-5 days.