I saw this mentioned in another thread, it does seem to be the go to fungicide for people in India, and it can't be purchased in the US. There are rare sellers in the US but they are shipping from India and the shipping costs more than the product itself. Plus, I'm not so sure it would get through customs. I've done a lot of research and do have a suitable work around that I wanted to post, but it's long and off topic for the thread I wanted to post it in. I decided to just start a new thread so I didn't hijack that one 😉

Murky said: I've looked for it in the past, it's in just about every video about adenium care, but no luck for anything similar in the US. Occasionally I'll find a link that seems from the US, and then find out it's located in India most times, just using a US server for the website.

But after doing more digging today, both ingredients are banned in the US, and much of EU, so it's unlikely we could have it shipped here.

Let me save you some research and headaches, I've been down the SAAF rabbit hole and can point you directly to the rabbits 😁 The ingredients are banned for use in food crops like citrus and apples but they are available in the US.

SAAF contains a contact fungicide (Mancozeb ) and a systemic fungicide (Carbendazim), you can buy them individually in the US.

Southern Ag Dithane M-45 is 80% mancozeb and available on amazon(www.amazon.com/dp/B08BVS9S2B) or directly from Southern Ag. The powder has a yello-ish tint and when you spray it on arabicums it will leave a visible residue on the leaves if you don't rinse it down the next day. I don't use it on them any more.

The carbendizim is not available in that form, however, you can buy Thiophanate-methyl. The primary metabolite of Thiophanate-methyl is carbendizim, so, you give the plant Thiophanate-methyl and it turns into carbendizim in the plant through the metabolism process. All the Thiophanate-methyl for sale in the the US is repackaged "Clearys 3336", it's pretty expensive in the liquid form and you can't get it in small quantities. I've looked into all the available products and the best deal you can get is OHP 6672 50 WP, which is a wetable powder containing 50% Thiophanate-methyl. The best deal I could find on that is through walmart(www.walmart.com/ip/OHP-6672-50-WP-Fungicide-4-x-8-Oz-Packets/655107820), cuz, why not 🙄

A word of warning, that fungicide comes in a 2lb plastic/foil bag that contains four 8oz water soluble bags of powder, all of mine were broken open in shipping and that seems to be the norm, based on reviews. The bags are meant to be thrown directly into an applicator tank with water so they are very thin and dissolve/break easily. The powder is super fine and takes to the air easily, when you open the outer bag, do it outdoors and wear a good dust mask. Have something ready to put the bags in because they will most likely be broken open. I put them in gallon ziploc bags in a cupboard and you could still smell the product through the whole house, I had to put the ziplocs in a good tupperware container to contain the smell. I keep the powder from one bag in a hard plastic container with a wide mouth and a good seal, and I keep that in a ziploc bag when I'm not using it.

The mixing ratio is one teaspoon per gallon, 2lbs should last you a long time for personal use, I use it in a small hand pump sprayer and don't have any problems with clogging, even when using the finest mist setting. I usually just mix up a gallon jug full and water my affected plants, or mix it with a little water and paint it on where needed. I also use it for the first watering of anything I repot and for the 1st watering of seeds. I don't use the powder directly on my plants because I don't want to touch or breath it.

Neither product can be stored after mixing with water, they pretty much have to be used when you mix them. They both have a shelf life of about 24 hours after mixing with water.

I hope that's helpful 🙂

Here are links to the label information from both products:
Dithane-M45(southernag.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Dithane-Label-.pdf)
OHP 6672 50 WP(www.ohp.com/Labels_MSDS/PDF/6672_50w_label.pdf)

I had to strip the https:// off the links because as a new member I can't post off site links, I'll fix those as soon as I can.

I just posted this a few messages down the thread but it's worth reading if you want to make your own saaf from these products:
https://garden.org/thread/view...

Kyle for posting these alternatives! That would help the adenium lovers who had been looking for the "blue" SAAF that we see being used in videos from India to treat the wounds and cuts of desert roses.

I'm still amazed how some would mix or apply that fungicide using their fingers That's good to know that they come in bags that get broken from shipping. So you don't accidentally spill that if opening them inside the house. And good to know of course that there are alternatives here that we can buy.

I also found this, CuPRO 5000 DF Fungicide Bactericide, SePRO, that could probably be used as a good replacement when I was digging before. But if cinnamon works, it didn't seem worth the cost to me to bother trying because of the large size bags you'd have to buy. If they sold any of the options in smaller quantities, I'd probably have tried it.

kyle_fl said: I had to strip the https:// off the links or they both showed up as the first link in the preview, that's an interesting quirk/bug.

Not sure what you mean by that, but if you just leave the https:// there, it makes it into a clickable link so we don't have to copy/paste it, like this:

https://www.forestrydistributi...

Murky said:Not sure what you mean by that, but if you just leave the https:// there, it makes it into a clickable link so we don't have to copy/paste it, like this..

If I leave the https:// on both links the second link turns into a copy of the first one, so instead of having one link to amazon and then one to walmart, the walmart link is replaced with the amazon link in the post preview.

I just tried to edit the post by adding the https:// to both links and the same thing happens, when I preview the post the second link is replaced with a copy of the first one, even though they are different in the post text. If I then try to post the edited message, the second link is replaced with a copy of the first one and I also get a warning that as a new member I can't post links to other websites and I need to remove the link. So maybe it has something to do with my being a new member.

I can't even quote your post with the links in it, I get the same warning:
In an effort to control spam, new members are not allowed to post links to other websites. Please remove the links from your post before you submit it. (This restriction will be removed from your membership within a few days.)

Once that restriction wears off I'll try to go back and edit the links so that they are clickable 😉

Ah you're right, probably the new member status. I'm not sure how long or how many posts until that flag drops off, but now I get what you mean. It's a necessary evil on forums since no one can be there to watch every new post to avoid nasty links, unless it's a forum that requires moderator approval on every single post. Which no one wants to do.

I feel like I should at least explain why saaf works so well and what the alternatives I linked will do before I move off the subject. Saaf is carbendazim 12% + mancozeb 63% w.p.(wetable powder) that means the active ingrediants are 75% of the product and the other 25% is a powder that keeps the active part suspended in water for application.

Mancozeb destroys the fungus on contact but also remains on the plant and disrupts the enzymes in certain fungi making it harder for them to form and multiply for up to 14 days. Any watering or rain within 24 hours of application will greatly reduce it's ability to protect the plant from future fungal growth. It is not absorbed into the plant and won't help with any type of rot that has already started.

Carbendazim is a systemic fungicide, it acts on fungus on contact, it is also absorbed into the plant through the green skin and roots, and then transported throughout the plant. It interferes with cell division in fungi while not interfering with plant cell division. Because of this it will prevent rot or slow/stop rot spread in the plant. When poured into the soil it is effective on many seed-borne and soil-borne diseases. It lasts up to 9 days in the soil but frequent use will drop that to a day, it stays active in the plant for around 14 days depending on the type of plant.

The combination of the two is highly effective for treating and preventing fungal infections and is why it so popular with adenium growers where it's available. The application rates of Dithane-m45(mancozeb) and Thiophanate-methyl(carbendazim) that I linked in the previous post are both 16oz per 100 gallons or 1 teaspoon per gallon of water. Mixing a 1/4 teaspoon of the Thiophanate-methyl with 3/4 teaspoon of Dithane-m45 gives you carbendazim 12.5% + mancozeb 60% w.p., which is close enough to saaf for me 😉

I agree, it's most likely superior in every way to treat and prevent fungus for adeniums. But the cost takes it off my list. $15 for a small size of the Southern Ag Dithane M-45 Fungus & Disease Control (6 Ounce) isn't bad. But $41 for the OHP 6672 50 WP Fungicide - 4 x 8 Oz. Packets is more than I'd use in 5 lifetimes, and that makes it not worth it to me. If they had single 8 oz packets of the OHP for 1/4 of the price, then I'd probaby try it.

Unfortunately all the good fungicide products are prohibitively expensive in small quantities. They are made by companies like monsanto for commercial agricultural use and sold by the ton.

I too looked for SAAF ...and never found it, or a similar substitute ...settled on Daconil and have used it ever since ....and "apparently", it is safe to use on adenium spp. .....

Daconil looks like a white liquid that you dilute and spray? Can you paint it on the cuts like you sprinkle cinnamon powder on them? Diluted or full strength if you do that?

Daconil concentrate is thicker than exterior paint or motor oil ... then there is Daconil already mixed ....
the concentrate should be mixed with water ....otherwise it will be almost impossible to spray

spray either to run-off ....

Use cinnamon if its *all* you have .....I wouldn't mix with/or use with cinnamon

@Murky ...misread your comment about cinnamon and Daconil

@deepsouth I'm not familiar with that brand but I see it's got the same active ingredient as bravo, I know people that swear by that stuff for vegetable gardens. The concentrate reminds me of Elmer's/PVA glue.

adenium spp? I'm not familiar with that.

Daconil and Root tone (w/fungicide) have been my Go-to for adeniums for as long as I have been growing them ...and I will swear to that

adenium spp = multiple species, in this case, adenium species ....for example: Adenium obesum, adenium arabicum, Adenium multiflorum, Adenium crispum

deepsouth said:
adenium spp = multiple species, in this case, adenium species ....for example: Adenium obesum, adenium arabicum, Adenium multiflorum, Adenium crispum

Thanks for clearing that up, I don't recall coming across that in my reading. My ignorance has been decreased yet again 😁

I wasn't sure if it was a liquid or powder that you mixed, but I'm still not sure how it's applied when it comes to pruning the tops or root pruning. So the way to use it on adeniums is to spray the entire plant with Daconil? Or can you just paint the open cuts with the diluted mixture of it?

spray or paint whatever works for you ......the viscosity of Daconil concentrate is thick, painting may be "over-doing-it" by "over dosing" .... premixed bottles have a built-in pump sprayer

while root tone is a powder....small roots can be dipped into the container....larger roots can be dusted / brushed on

@kyle_fl for the

I ran across using copper oxychloride fungicide for adeniums, found it from 2012 actually in this forum.

Has anyone used it? It sounds like it could be a good substitute for SAAF, and much more reasonably priced for those of us in the US.