anyone ever use systemic products on their trees?

Nebraskaz71

Nebraskaz71

Active Member
I am absolutely covered the last few years in japanese beetles on all my trees and the bag worms on my spruce are getting horrible too. I've been trying a couple different insecticides this year with some luck but just wondering if anyones ever tried systemic products and if they would solve my problems before they start?

I found this that has "fertilizer" in it and is just tablets you put down. http://www.domyownpestcontrol.com/coretect-tree-shrub-tablets-insecticide-p-1352.html
Obviously expensive but one bottle would last almost two years on my smaler lawn trees atleast.
 
I've used it for years in my business. Not sure you would have any luck on bag worms but it would work on Jap beetles. I just bought a gal. of generic Merit (LADA) cost $44.00 Probably last me the rest of my life. I use it for grub and army worms on my lawn and drench my trees and shrubs. i was buying the granular but this is way cheaper. The tablets are easy to use but are going to be too big for potted plants in small containers like my seedlings are.
 
I took a walk in my orchard last week and realized that it was 1941 all over again, I was being invaded by the Japanese. PermethrinSP was all that I had handy so I applied 6 oz. in 2 gallons of water. One week later there's not a beetle in sight.
 
Bagworms i'll hit with some bifenthrin that I ordered, those tablets work good on adult jap beetles though? I hate to put grub killer down cause I dont wanna kill the earthworms and other good things in my lawn and its pointless when i'm surrounded by thousands of acres of untreated crop ground. Just hoping to save my trees from year to year.
 
Yeah Bifin would be good on bag worms. No the Merit, since it's a systemic wont harm anything that doesn't feed on the plant. The plant picks up the chemical and when the insect feeds on the plant it gets the insecticide. If they don't feed on the plant then there isn't a problem.
 
I too, am swamped with Japanese beetles on everything. Wanted to use the Merit but was warned to not use around the fruit trees as it would be in the trees for years. The stuff sounded bad enough that I didn't want to risk it. I ended up using the granular around the heaviest infested, non-fruit tree areas. It is probably a losing battle since we are surrounded by ag fields.
 
I was fearful of the merit type stuff getting into my well water or killing good things like earth worms but man spraying sevin twice a day and still having trees picked clean gets old.
 
The main problem with Merit is it's slow to move through the plant. Normally you want to have in down a month ahead of the insect infestation. At this point it may be too little too late or you may have to keep up with the contact insecticide until the Merit shows up.
 
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