Posted by Tom Broome on 10/28/2011, 3:22 pm, in reply to "Optimal systemic insecticide application by season"
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--Previous Message--
: Tom, thanks again for your dedication
: to others and these plants. My
: question pertains to the application
: of systemic pesticides and the most
: optimal time of year to apply said
: formula. It is my understanding that
: during the warmer months there is an
: increased need for water. I would
: assume the increased uptake of water
: through the root system into the
: plant would make this the most
: efficient time of year to apply
: these pesticides, in my case a
: product containing imidacloprid. My
: question is this. Living in Florida
: (8b) would october (right now) be an
: appropriate time to apply such
: product? Will I get less efficient
: results due to the cooler weather
: coming up? I understand it takes
: several weeks for the chemical to
: work through the plant. I have been
: battling a cas infestation with only
: coffee for months. I know coffee
: works, however my problem is more
: severe and I want this problem gone.
: To complicate matters further, Some
: of the plants are offsets with root
: systems that vary from establishing
: to unestablished to nonexistent. The
: offsets are potted, rooting in
: builders sand. So, my understanding
: is the systemic will do no good to
: the offsets without roots. I plan on
: treating the rootless with coffee
: only for now. Oh, These are Sago
: palms by the way. I have read the
: label on the product, searched the
: internet, read all of your articles
: I could find, searched this board,
: etc, etc, etc. It is still not clear
: if there is a particular season when
: it is not recommended to use
: imidacloprid, or when to expect the
: best results. I would rather not use
: this chemical, but, since I need to
: it is important to me that as much
: of this goes into the plant as
: possible, and not elsewhere. Thanks,
: Mike.
:
Certainly, anything systemic will slow up this time of year compared to the middle of summer, but this slowing down really wouldn't make a big difference in what you want to do. It might take a few more days to do the same thing, but I wouldn't wait for a better time of year to do something like this.
If you are really worried about treating ththis now, I am thinking I wouldn't use the Imidicloprid. It does work well, and was a chemical I suggested when I wrote the article several years ago becasue it gave people a good chance at a long term treatment compared to the other suggested treatments at that time. This chemcial does, however have some draw backs, so for you and what you want to do, I would suggest using something else. If you don't mind using nasty chemicals I would nuke it with some Orthene. Drench the ground so that it reaches all the way down to the bottom of the roots, and use it as a direct contact spray on all the foliage and the stem. Do this again 2 weeks later and your plant shopuld be fairly sterilized. Cygon works pretty good too.
Another alternative would be to still drench with one of these products and totally cover everything above ground with 2 applications of horticultural oil, which will smother every insect it covers, and it is also a lot safer to use.
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