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Paradoxical Effects - Paradoxical effects mean that as dose increases the response is increasing and decreasing as an undulating wave between an x and y axis.
In other words. Paradoxical effects are increases and decreases in results as dose is increased. Any person who fertilizes or tries to use pesticides or herbicides, fungicides, miticides, or whatever, must – should - know, a little bit about paradoxical effects. If you don’t then here is your chance. Because of the concerns we have, it’s the same as with people that take many pills. You never know at what dosage the pill is increasing or decreasing the effect of the reason that the pill is being taken. So as you measure results and increase dosage in many cases the results go up and down in a curve. So you really don’t know where you really are. Experiments where done with fungi where you can feed the fungi in liquid culture. It’s called paradoxical effects because you would think as dose increases you would increase the results. But that’s not always the case. We know this also with potassium in soils. As you increase the amount of potassium it gets locked up, especially if you have certain kinds of clays. So you can have a potassium deficiency while you are still adding more and more potassium. We don’t have all of the answers but we are thinking about them. If you could just think about paradoxical effects next time you fertilize. Are you really fertilizing the tree or are you fertilizing the pathogens? Who are you fertilizing? Think about these things. Please learn a little bit about paradoxical effects. Work on Paradoxical Effect was done mostly in 1960 & 1961 in Laconia, NH.