emerald ash borer control

Do you have a pesticide for emerald ash borer as we are losing ash trees that are 15-80 years old?

Emerald ash borers have become a major pest responsible for huge losses to any type of ash tree. Once a female lays eggs and her young hatch, they’ll begin feeding under the bark which eventually kills any host tree. If you want to prevent and protect your trees from this destructive borer, you should institute a preventive treatment program that will help protect your trees from future attacks. And since these treatments are so easy to do, it’s a wonder more people aren’t protecting their trees since the emerald ash borer can strike so quickly. So what treatment options have proven effective?

For starters, the hands down best product for emerald ash borers is MERIT WP. This product should be applied as a soil drench which means you’ll need to first poke some holes around the tree’s drip line and depending on the tree size, pour a certain amount of mixed product down the holes with the intention of getting the slurry down to the roots of the tree. Once successfully injected, the tree will absorb the Merit which will protect it from just about any pest including borers.

Now you can use anything to poke the holes like a STAKING TOOL and once the holes have been properly treated, the Merit will be absorbed by the tree providing a systemic barrier which will last up to a year. This means you only have to treat once annually making Merit easy to use and very efficient as well.

Now the only shortcoming of Merit is that it takes awhile to be absorbed and work it’s way throughout the treated tree. So if you want to get some immediate protection in place, spray the tree down with some OPTIGARD. These sprayings will last 30-60 days and treating any tree you want to protect is a practical way to help install a barrier through which no borer can penetrate. But since these liquid treatments need to be done several times a year, the Merit is the more practical approach for long term control of borers.

Lastly, if you want to keep a product on hand to use “on the spot” with no mixing required, get some PT-CYKICK. It comes with an aerosol straw and is labeled for use on trees for borers. Basically you’ll use it to inject a treatment into any exit holes you get and because the Cykick is in a aerosol form, the product will pump into the tree and throughout the gallery. This way if there are other borers using the same gallery, you’ll kill them thus thwarting any further impact they can have.

Here are direct links to the information and products listed above:

Merit WP: http://www.bugspraycart.com/insecticide/wettable-powder/merit-75-wp-2-oz

Optigard:  http://www.bugspraycart.com/insecticide/liquid/optigard-flex-liquid-8-oz

Staking Tool: http://www.bugspraycart.com/equipment/tools/staking-tool-4

PT-Cykick: http://www.bugspraycart.com/insecticide/aerosol/pt-cykick-17-5-oz

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