Syzar
What is Syzar?
Syzar is a natural crop protection preparation based on cloves. Syzar is effective in the fight against the leaf miner fly. Syzar has proven effective in disrupting the egg-laying and eating behaviour of the leaf miner fly, especially in ornamental plant and herb crops.
Syzar can amplify the effect of chemicals used against the leaf miner fly, so that the use of chemical preparation can be much reduced.
How does Syzar work?
Syzar works by coating the top of the leaf with aromatic compounds. This prevents the female eating holes or laying eggs on the places where Syzar is present.
Eugenol
The scent of Syzar is caused by Eugenol. Eugenol is a compound that is naturally present in low concentrations in many crops. However in cloves the concentration is very high. The compound has a strong repellent effect on many insects, but in some cases also attracts insects.
Faltering movements
The repellent effect is very strong for the leaf miner fly. However the leaf miner fly can only smell the Eugenol when it is close to the treated leaves. If the female leaf miner fly is looking for food or for suitable places to lay eggs it will encounter the scent of Eugenol each time it is close to the leaf, and its movements will become very faltering. It is driven from one plant to another to find a suitable place to feed and lay its eggs. If the crop is well treated with Syzar, the fly will hardly be able to find a suitable place, so it will feed less. This results in fewer spots on the crop.
Repeat regularly
Treated leaves are protected for at least two weeks against feeding dots and egg dots. The female goes looking for other leaves that are still unprotected. It is thus important, to achieve a good effect with Syzar, that the treatment should be repeated regularly. Only regular repetition can ensure that all leaves are actually coated. Because of the growth of the crop, it is necessary to repeat the treatment every week. In times of rapid growth it is necessary to administer Syzar every five days.
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