cambistat

[treeman82]

Have any of you guys ever used Cambistat? How did it work for you? How was it to apply? I was working at a pruning job today and there was WAY too much internodal growth on a lot of shrubs. The customer has apparently been going fert crazy for the past couple years. I am going to hack them back pretty good, but unless he starts using a TGR the things are gonna look like garbage.

 

[Paul O'Neill]

I have not used it yet. But after talking with the Rainbow reps at the the So-ISA annual conference this week I plan to start. They had some good data to support and the application couldn't be easier.

Paul.

 

[TREETX]

Keep us posted. I have a few customers who are interested. Just don't want to be a snake oil guy. I'd sell Alamo if I wanted into the snake oil biz

 

[treeman82]

Paul and Nate, do you guys know where I could even find Cambistat? I have a client who is interested, but I need some information price wise, and also any statistics they may have. I called around to the garden center in this area which would be most likely to have it, and they never even heard the name.

 

[TREETX]

www.rainbowscivance.com

 

[tophopper]

I'd sell Alamo if I wanted into the snake oil biz

treetx- whats wrong with Alamo? I wouldn't consider it snake oil

 

[TREETX]

Alamo is a good product and I hate to bash it, but it has to be used properly and on live oaks, preventatively.

Up there, I am assuming it is oak wilt in white oaks which can be treated. Here Alamo is used on live oaks. I have used it with great results on trees surrounding a spreading infection center.

Here there are a lot of people who inject live, dead, and defoliating symptomatic trees. Money gone. An applicator's license doesn't give you morals or logical thinking.

Countless numbers in Texas have been rooked by Alamo peddlers. Those that say,"Alamo will save sick trees"

If you are going to do it,

1. Macro only - it is a volume thing
2. Super sharp bits - helix
3. Time of day, day and all things that contribute to transpiration rates
4. Find good root flares.
5. Baby sit your tanks and get it finished.

I am just gun shy of this product. It is what got me into tree work. My forest pathology prof (Appel) got me a job doing injections for a tree company. At first, I wanted nothing to do with climbing, chainsaws, and this blue collar stuff. After being around it a while, it was clear where my interests laid.

I just find that alamo has to be sold properly. If a person has 2 oaks in their front yard, both the same size, one symptomatic, one non symptomatic. They only have cash to inject one. The challenge lies in getting them to shift their focus to the on that has no symptoms.........

 

[treeman82]

Well, it looks like I am going to be attending a Cambistat demonstration next week. I will report back with my findings.

 

[WillClimb]

Been wondering about the stuff myself. From what I've read in TCI it sounds pretty interesting. I first saw it and said to myself, "...now why in the hell would anyone want to slow down the growth of their tree?!?"
But when you have defensive die-back happening from root loss caused by construction, driveways, sidewalks, or toxins in the soil, it seems Cambistat could slow down the crown (which at this point is way out of balance with the compromised roots) and let the root system catch back up. Pretty ingenious thinking I say. Apparently it was invented, researched, or borrowed by utility crews trying to get trees to stop growing into the power lines. The research was scrapped because they were doing more harm to the trees with their application method....which I believe was some type of root flare injection. Research was then started again with the idea of just pouring the stuff in a non-invasive trench carefully dug around the root flare.

Anyway, the only thing I know about it is what I read in a TCI article and that was probably written by the owners of Cambistat

 

[mquinn]

i've been checking into using cambistat for a slightly different reason, but here's a response i got from writing to Mark Mann whose name was provided on another thread here....

Our company uses Profile 2SC, the original product for tree growth regulation. And from studies and observations, Profile does show the ability to enhance the root hair growth on established trees. ..... worked with Gary Wrangler on the the arboretum at the St. Louis Children's Hospital. He may be a good reference for additional information about our company and why he used Profile 2SC applications. Contact us for more info about Gary or Profile 2SC with our toll free #1.866.886.5095.

maybe that just throws extra non-information into the pot, but it might also provide you with an alternative product to compare prices, etc.

the other thread that gave me mark mann's name:

He used to do the seminars with Dr. Bill Chaney (he had Chaney at Purdue) and Dr. Gary Watson of the Morton Arboretum, but there was some falling out with Rainbow Scientific Tree Advancement taking the reigns. So, there isn't anyone at Rainbow that has the hands on knowledge and devotion to the product as does Mr. Mann.

 

[treeman82]

I am going to be going to the information session on Tuesday morning. This is what I found out so far:

1 gallon of material costs $480

1 gallon treats about 20 trees which are 20 - 24 inches in diameter.

1 treatment lasts for 3 years.

 

[treeman82]

Alright, myself and Corey met up with Peter Felix this morning to check out Camistat SC2. Peter seems like a really nice guy, honest, and willing to share information. These are some of the main points I got, but I have more info if you guys want me to e-mail it out to you.

1) You need to be a liscensed applicator, but no special endorsements on your liscense. You do need to post, but no neighbor notification stuff required.

2) Application is kind of a guessing game, both Corey and myself have lists of application rates, but you have to adjust your application to how much of the crown is actually there as opposed to if it was left growing in a field setting, as well as by what the species of the tree is.

3) Application itself is VERY easy, and VERY fast. Getting it on turf is not a problem, because it will just stunt the growth, some shrubs may be stunted as well. You don't want to use it on any trees being used to generate a crop... apples... plum... oranges... whatever. I believe we treated a 4' diameter white oak today in under 10 minutes. I think Peter said he would have charged $350 for that treatment.

4) No special tools required, just a jug to mix the chemical in, a measuring cup, and access to water, plus a hand trowel which they give you, or an air spade if doing large quantities of trees. The water : Cambistat ratio is always the same.

5) This applies at least to our guy... They won't sell you the product unless you go to a roughly 40 minute demonstration session.

6) anything else?

 

[treeman82]

7) forgot this one. After application you have ROUGHLY 30 days in which to get any pruning done to the tree (depends on DBH). After your application, you shouldn't prune for at least 2 years unless the tree grows really fast.

 

[WillClimb]

So, can you list some of the noticeable effects that the stuff has in say...a 1 year timeframe?
Just wondering what the clients can expect to see, aside from just a healthier tree.

 

[treeman82]

If you apply the stuff right now, you won't see any effects until next spring. According to Peter:

After 1 year you will see less growth, greener / smaller leaves, increased drought and disease tolerance, possibly increased fruiting or seed production (stinky ginkgo's or large amounts of acorns, stuff like that) the major roots will not grow as much which will slow any heaving of sidewalks and such as the growth is concentrated mostly in the fine roots.

 

[John Paul Sanborn]

It is a PGR that effects internodal growth primarily, and leaf size secondarily.