We must be doing something right to attract the attention of an esteemed company like Corteva who in their latest fruit fly brochure have taken time out to compare their GF120 to a competitor.

• Harvest Chemicals with FF240 was the only competitor at the time. Cura- Fly has also subsequently been registered to target Aerial applications.

We do not agree with some of the comparative data which I will be dealing with later but not in dispute is both FF240 and Cura-Fly are “green band” products, the least toxic category at Groups 4 while the original product is a more toxic “blue band” Group 3 product.

Back to the comparative analysis

1.  We do not agree with the active Spinosad loading of 0,020% w/w against 0,0174%, although statistically very small.
   • Our formulation is such that we load above the registered 0,24g/ℓ but within the specification allowed.
2. For Harvest Chemicals our biggest bone of contention is the attractant used in the FF240 fruit fly bait,
   • We disagree with the protein loading comparison of 7,58 versus 6,49 but our biggest concern is the salt comparison of <0,03 versus 2,5.
   • The insinuation is a higher salt content may affect fruit fly palatability and length of feeding.

(no scientific data produced).

• For the record we used the most recognised and leading fruit fly attractant in the South African market which does use a small quantity of salt to burst the yeast cells before the protein is hydrolysed (acid, high temperature and pressure).
  • As a result of this a small amount of salt ends up in our final fruit fly bait but at no stage do we believe palatability was affected.

This has now become a mute point.  Since our first fruit bait, FF240 was launched some 18 months ago, we have continued testing bait combinations.  The latest being a process of enzyme hydrolysis with a variation of protein sources.

The product was trialled by Tom vd Meulen with his patented gyrocopter intermittent dispensing system.  Tom is an independent consultant/entomologist, and his comments were:

“The best fruit fly control ever achieved in this region”.

Makes one think……with expertise and dedication we come up with something truly remarkable, breaching the risk of monopolisation.

Trevor Wimbush  CEO Harvest Chemicals  Hon BSc (Chemistry)