any ideas?

[Ed Roland]

I need to acheive control of a heavy population of wax scale on several mature Quercus phellos within a 10 city block private arboretum situated in a populus area with sidewalks all around the outside wall.
Merit is not all that effective and spraying distance into the canopy isnt feasably safe. Any other systemic that will acheive control?

columbia,S.C.
zone: 8a

 

[treeseer]

Bidrin?

 

[Tree Wizard]

Root zone injection of Metasystox-R. Works great on all scales. May have to do several times to get complete control.

 

[BonsaiJedi]

treatments for hard scale

Safari (valent) has good results for scale and can be applied as a basal drench. Application that does not require tree wounding is obviously preferred if possible. PM me if you are interested in where you can purchase Safari.

 

[Ed Roland]

Safari (valent) has good results for scale and can be applied as a basal drench. Application that does not require tree wounding is obviously preferred if possible. PM me if you are interested in where you can purchase Safari.

Thanks fellas for the input.

The powers that be want to use a locally obtained brand called TRI-STAR as a basal drench systemic for the control of the hardscale issue on the mature oaks. I want to use the SAFARI Mr. Jedi. recommends as I can readily find information supporting the use as a basal drench, yet for TRI-STAR I can only find efficacy reports on the chemical applied as a crown spray.

After researching all five of the available neonicotinoids including Marathon(imidacloprid), Flagship (thiamethoxam), TriStar(acetamiprid), Celero (clothianidin), and Safari(dinotefuran) I feel SAFARI may be the way to go.

Can you guys lead me to a reputable and non-biased report supporting the use of any of TRI-STAR as a basal drench to control hardscale on mature oaks?
I would like to put this question to rest, perform the treatment and send the bill. Thanks again, everyone. .ed

 

[BonsaiJedi]

Tri-star is only labeled for spray on tree so you will not find research for soil application. Tri-star is a very soluble neonictinoid that will leach out of the soil imediately, thus no soil application is allowed. Safari will be the only one of the products you listed that has labeling and efficacy for systemic treatment of hard scale. Cheers!

 

[Ed Roland]

My research is finished. I love it when the 'powers that be' are wrong.

I am confident that I now have a 'go to' treatment (SAFARI) for instances where hardscale must be controlled in settings where spraying is not an option.

Stay tuned Mr. Jedi. I want local if I can, but we need this chemical and if it comes down to obtaining it from an internet source we will purchase from you.

 

[treeseer]

My research is finished.
I am confident that I now have a 'go to' treatment (SAFARI) for instances where hardscale must be controlled in settings where spraying is not an option.

Is it possible to get an objective comparison of Metasystox and Safari?

 

[BonsaiJedi]

Is it possible to get an objective comparison of Metasystox and Safari?

Metasystox is only labeled for Elm Scale, which is a soft scale. For treatment of hard scale there is no comparison between the two as metasystox is not even labeled for it. Hope this answers your question.

 

[treeseer]

My treatment of scale is limited to oil spraying. A concern with basal drenching is collateral damage to beneficial soil fauna. Any info on this?

 

[BonsaiJedi]

Any (broad spectrum) soil applied insecticide would kill any insect that it comes in contact with but the thing to remember is the application zone is only 6-12" around the base of the tree (with Xytect or Safari we only recommend basal drench application, not the grid or dripline application) so the only organisms that would be affect are those in the actually in the immediate application zone. It would not negatively affect the whole soil fauna food chain. Hope this helps.

 

[woodville]

Not the insect your targeting but a good article anyway.
http://www.fs.fed.us/ne/newtown_squ...ical_reports/pdfs/2005/332 papers/wang332.pdf

 

[Ed Roland]

Any (broad spectrum) soil applied insecticide would kill any insect that it comes in contact with but the thing to remember is the application zone is only 6-12" around the base of the tree (with Xytect or Safari we only recommend basal drench application, not the grid or dripline application) so the only organisms that would be affect are those in the actually in the immediate application zone. It would not negatively affect the whole soil fauna food chain. Hope this helps.

Applied much the same way as cambistsat. I look forward to the treatment and I will post efficacy.

 

[Ed Roland]

Any (broad spectrum) soil applied insecticide would kill any insect that it comes in contact with but the thing to remember is the application zone is only 6-12" around the base of the tree (with Xytect or Safari we only recommend basal drench application, not the grid or dripline application) so the only organisms that would be affect are those in the actually in the immediate application zone. It would not negatively affect the whole soil fauna food chain. Hope this helps.

How much diluted material per dbh for Safari? All the application rates I can find are for nursery stock.

 

[BonsaiJedi]

I'll email you the supplemental label with soil rates.

 

[Ed Roland]

Applied much the same way as cambistsat. I look forward to the treatment and I will post efficacy.

OK, its fall and not the time to be scouting for crawlers, of course. But the scale seams to be dessicated. I believe i have reduced populations to a considerable, if not acceptable, degree.

I drenched on May first. Myself and some local talent scouted for any viable scale recently (11-13-07). Thats 7.5 months to accumulate inside the vascular system. Remember the site is a large private arboretum downtown with sidewalks under canopy outside the wall. I had to drench. The SAFARI seems to have performed well on these very mature phellos.

I have sent samples for possitive scale identification. I will provide dilution rates for my success with details, soon.