Frequently Asked Questions:
White, Powdery Residue

It's a product called Surround WP which is 95% kaolin clay, a naturally occuring mineral which has been specially milled into a superfine powder. The other 5% consists of spreading and sticking agents which help the clay to uniformly coat the fruit and leaves of the trees when it is mixed with water and sprayed in the orchard. Surround is approved for use in certified organic production under the USDA National Organic Program. It's perfectly harmless to humans, plants, birds and wildlife. Insects find it irritating, which is exactly what we love about it.

All kinds of things! Surround is used to help control pests such as: pear psylla, plum curculio, cutworms, pear midge, pear slug, apple sucker, climbing cutworm, eastern tent caterpillar, gypsy moth, japanese beetle, june beetle, grasshoppers, green fruit worm, leafrollers, lygus bug, mormon cricket, cicada, stink bug, tarnished plant bug, thrips, fabria leafspot, apple maggot, codling moth, rose chafer, aphids, naval orangeworm, husk fly, blueberry maggot, blackberry psyllid, flea beetles, grape leaf skeletonizer, bean leaf beetle, mexican bean beetle, powdery mildew, cucumber beetle, boll weevil, armyworm, black vine weevil, and fruit flies.

It also helps protect fruit from sunburn (yes, fruit can sunburn!) and heat stress in hot summer weather.

Nope, it's not toxic or poisonous at all. Depending on the insect pest and the crop being protected, Surround works in a few different ways. In some cases, the white coating my prevent the insect from identifying the host crop so they don't even try to land, feed or lay eggs. In other cases, the clay coating seems to cause insects to deem the fruit or leaves unpalatable, too dry and dusty to eat. Other insects become coated with the clay particles causing them so much irritation that they simply move on to other, unsprayed plants rather than remaining to feed or lay eggs. Imagine having a picnic in a sandy desert on a hot, windy day, with no way to rinse the annoying gritty particles off of your skin or your lunch, and you get the idea.

As for sun protection, it works just like that thick white sunscreen lifeguards use on their noses. Simple, natural, and effective!

Well, we do. After harvest, all our apples and pears are "floated" out of the orchard bins, rinsed, and brushed with soft bristles before they are dried, sorted and packed into boxes. Sometimes some Surround residue remains after washing, especially in the valleys around the stem and calyx (blossom) ends of the apples. You can remove any remaining clay residue by rubbing gently with a damp towel.