# Trunk vs. soil injections for insects and disease



## Greenie (Apr 4, 2011)

I am trying to decide which type of delivery is best - Arborjet and Mauget both require holes drilled into the trunk, fairly slow applications, and very expensive chemicals. 
Soil injection, on the other hand allows for much less expensive pesticides, faster delivery, and no holes in the trunk which may put off customers. I have a deep root feeder, tank and Hypro pump already. If the application is timed correctly, the pesticide will get into the tree easier and less expensively, right? Plus, smaller saplings and bushes can be treated easier via drench.
I'm mostly concerned with Imidacloprid for EAB, HWA, miners, but also looking at Chlorothalonil for Anthracnose, rust and blight.
I am in Maine, licensed, and hope to start my own business when I retire later this year.
I'd appreciate any suggestions.


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## Urban Forester (Apr 4, 2011)

Soil injection is MUCH less invasive to the tree but translocation is varible so adequate "lead time" needs to be employed. The choice depends on products vs pests, i.e, imidiclorprid does not control caterpillers and armored scale. Also tree size can affect the ppm in the target area, i.e. not enough gets up to the upper canopy, this is pacticularly true for soft scales. I have used all the injection systems made and done over 8,000 injections in 25 years, each has its benefits and downsides. However I have a couple of concerns regarding your use/knowledge of products. Chlorothalonil is a broad spectrum contact fungicide that: a) has no label for soil injection AND has no ability to translocate through a tree. To use ANY product in a manner that is inconsistent with its label is a violation of the law. There are very few fungicides that can be applied to soil in the Tree/shrub market that work on foliar issues. My recommendation would be to sit down w/a rep from the companies and discuss his/her's products what they control, how they can be used. You may also want to go to Crop Data Management Systems, Inc. - Home and check out some labels of various products to find out how they fit into your PHC program. Newer products like safari may be something to look at. It is foliar, trunk wash and soil injected. Good luck...


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## ATH (Apr 5, 2011)

Urban Forester said:


> .....The choice depends on products vs pests.....


 
+1

Both have their place.

In my opinion, if you are only looking at imidacloprid, I'd plan soil injection as much as possible. If you can schedule treatments a few weeks ahead (I realize not every client calls early enough...) the soil injected treatment will be adequately delivered. The advantages of trunk injecting imidacloprid are slightly quicker delivery and no risk of soil leaching.


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## Greenie (Apr 5, 2011)

Good advice, thank you very much.


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