DELICATE is a new tank-mix adjuvant base on green chemistry that reduces drift, improves adhesion and retention and actively improves uptake of AI’s. DELICATE is derived from bio-based chemistry, is fully biodegradable and is without any tox- and hazardous classifications.

DELICATE has been proven extremely safe and effective in a large variety of crops, including (young) fruit trees, diverse agricultural crops and horticultural crops. It has proven to enhance to effectiveness of many (local) systemic and translaminar fungicides, insecticides and herbicides.

Some adjuvants can have a negative, degrading effect on the waxy layer of the leaf. This can leave the plant vulnerable as the waxy layer protects the leaf from all kinds of external stressors. Using Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) we found out that DELICATE has no negative effect on the waxy layer and actually protects the waxy layer against abrasion (this is also the case for our products ZIPPER and CERTAIN). DELICATE even had no negative effect on a sensitive crop like lettuce, which has a very thin waxy layer.

DELICATE improves adhesion and retention like other surfactants but it hardly has any spreading capacity. This non-spreading ability causes less runoff and helps with the uptake of a large number of pesticides as it creates a larger concentration gradient than most spreading surfactants do. Besides this passive uptake enhancing ability, DELICATE also actively enhances uptake of both hydrophilic and lipophilic AI’s through the cuticle and epidermal cell vacuoles.

DELICATE is not soluble in water but is perfectly dispersible. When spraying, the small droplets of DELICATE in the spray liquid cause an early breakup of the water film which decreases driftable particles and therefore one source of potentially harmful emission of pesticides into the environment. Combined, the lower drift, less runoff and high deposition and retention, make sure that the spray liquid gets to the place where it is supposed to go and stays there. This results in an optimal use of the plant protection products being used.