Archive for the ‘Pesticide Applications’ category

Mountain Pine Beetle Treatment: Spotlight TREE-Age

May 3rd, 2011

If you don’t want pesticides sprayed in the air, this systemic injection will most likely be effective. It will be safe It will be expensive.

I spoke with an arborist who charges around $200 per pine to prevent pine beetle. That would be for a tree roughly 30 inches DBH.

According to a press release, the product is only available through licensed professionals. We also heard from a person in Colorado who received a quote for $400 epr tree to do this type of treatment.
So shop around.

Let us know how this works for you. We are testing it as well. Many tests have been done on its path to approval so we are optimistic that it will be a new weapon in protecting your valuable pines.

WOBURN, Mass., April 11, 2011 — Many states now have a new tool in their pest management arsenal; today Arborjet (http://www.arborjet.com) announced that TREE-age® insecticide received expanded label approval from the EPA to control several invasive species such as Western Pine Beetle, Mountain Pine Beetle and other associated Engraver Beetles.

Arborists, landscapers and city officials in cities like Milwaukee and Chicago have used TREE-age to treat tens of thousands of trees to protect their urban forests against the invasive pest known as Emerald Ash Borer. By injecting TREE-age directly into the tree’s vascular system, it not only provides protection quickly, but it is also highly effective in treating insects that feed under the bark. Arborjet trunk injection also seals the applied insecticide in the tree, thus limiting exposure of the chemical to the environment.

“The expanded label for TREE-age will change forest management practices forever,” said Russ Davis, President and Chief Operating Officer of Arborjet. “It’s great news for landscapers, arborists and municipalities, who until now have struggled with the inability to control many highly invasive insects.”

TREE-age is applied through the Arborjet injection system where the formulation is sealed inside the tree, and unlike many other treatments, TREE-age provides up to two years of control for insects like Mountain Pine Beetle.

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Posted in Pesticide Applications, Treatments

Pine Beetle Spraying Has 99% Success Rate

February 16th, 2011

Larimer County’s decimated pine forests leave little doubt that pesticide application are the only way to safeguard your tree.

Think about some options for a second.

Pheremones are under study but unproven in epidemic areas. Larimer county is in a mountain pine beetle epidemic.

Good cultural practices promote vigorous pine trees which can resist pitch tubes. Yet, few think about prevention, right or wrong.

Removing dead and diseased pines trees help. It won’t secure a mature pine to the left of your bay window that frames your view perfectly.

  • Facts:
  • Bark beetle hit ponderosa pine ten fold in 2010.
  • 181,000 acres of pine forest were affected in 2010.
  • Larimer County was harder hit then any other county in Colorado

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Mountain pine beetle infestation in 2010 took hundreds of thousands of acres of ponderosa and lodgepole pine trees in the high county and foothills of Larimer County.

  • Towns hardest hit :
  • Cameron Pass
  • Drake
  • Fort Collins
  • Red Feather Lakes

Crystal Lakes and Glacier View are two HOA’s in western Larimer County that our arborists study./

“We’ve seen 99 percent success rate in Estes, here (Glacier View HOA) and Denver, ” said Jeff Disler, Plant Health Care Consultant.

Permethrin is safer to the environment with a 99 percent success in preventing pine beetles. Carbaryl was favored at Rocky Mountain National Park and other national parks. In tests carbaryl does provide greater two season control then permethrin.

If you have lodgepole pines, the beetle “only” affected 367,000 acres of lodgepole pines, down from 398,00 acres in 2009.

When you are reviewing treatment options, know that they work. Find a qualified tree service, ask good questions and save money.

Tips for saving money:

+ Ask good questions,. Here’s one. Is your tree service a licensed pesticide applicator?
Ask that and establish you know something and talked to other vendors.

+ Get three bids. Prices range between $7 and $40 per tree, according to estimators. On average expect $10 to $12 down to $7 in stands of 50 trees.

+ Good arborists are good money savers. If you spend $5,000 or more on arborist care and tree removal, don’t price shop only. No need to spray if the vendor does it all wrong.

+ Multiple trees slashes your spraying cost substantially.

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Posted in Colorado, Pesticide Applications, Pine Beetle Prevention

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ODC – Beetle Prevention Game Changer or Wishful Thinking

February 12th, 2010

2/12/2010

The Holy Grail of mountain pine beetle prevention is to create a natural or organic substance that prevents mountain pine beetle (mpb) while doing no damage to wildlife, water and humans.

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Unfortunately past products that promised this haven’t worked well enough. Pheromones, fertilization and integrated tree care all help. However, none of these methods have been as effective as chemical pesticides.

According to an article by North Forty News,  AgriHouse of Berthoud, Colo. is testing a new, natural MPB prevention product, called ODC, aimed at breaking through where others have failed.

Richard Stoner, president of AgriHouse, tells the North Forty News that  “the product was originally developed for NASA to help ‘grow plants in a closed loop system.’  Stoner does not claim any magic solution to the beetle infestation. He describes ODC as ‘a tool in the IPM (integrated pest management) toolbox.’ ”

ODC  testing is being done on a sample of 90 pine tree seedlings in Larimer County, Colorado.  AgriHouse cites a Forest Service study that shows a correlation between increased resin and a reduction in the amount of bark beetle eggs.

George Biedenstein, staff arborist at ArborScape Inc. found a  hole in the company’s test method.

“Pine beetles do not attack seedlings anyway,”  Biedenstein said.  ” They mainly attack older trees over 8 inches in diameter. So I could pour pink lemonade around pine seedlings and they also wouldn’t get pine beetle.”

Generally in a mountain setting, pine trees take anywhere from 5 to 7  years to attain the size that attracts a mountain pine beetle colony.  So it could be a decade before this study garners any data.  Studies done on stands of pine trees in Norway, France and Florida have shown that chitosan based products do slow down the blue stain fungus that many arborists believe causes the host pine tree to perish.

ODC is designed to strengthen a pine tree’s ability to resist the mountain pine beetle. ODC uses chitosan which helps pine trees produce more resin.  Studies of bark beetle activity have shown that trees with more resin are not as an attractive host to MPB eggs.

However it all sounds like wishful thinking to us. What do you think?

Matt Johnson is a blogger and reporter covering arboricultural and tree care issues.  He writes for Mountain Pine Beetle Treatment and ArborScape.

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Posted in Colorado, Information for Property Owners, Pesticide Applications, Products

Game changing MPB product on the horizon from Arborjet (if the approval ever happens!)

February 4th, 2010

There have been rumors among arborists and even newspaper stories that Arborjet has been working on a product that would be the first legitimate, labeled mountain pine beetle product that could actually eliminate an adult pine beetle. Legacy chemicals only impede the ability of the beetle to reproduce. I interviewed Sean Michael Facey, manager of marketing communications for Arborjet in Woburn, MA about the ongoing approval process for their MPB chemical.

MPBtreatment.com: Are you releasing a product to combat mountain pine beetle?

Facey: Yes and no. Yes, we have a product for pine beetles, but no, it can’t be released for use until it is registered. The process is long and complicated, but the bottom line is we are working with the government to try to get that product to the market.

MPBtreatment.com: The product you are working on, is it a contact pesticide? Would it kill mature mountain pine beetles?

Facey : The product is not a contact poison, it must be ingested. The product must be applied prior to attack by the beetle so when the beetle initiates its attack, it has to chew into the cambium where it will likely ingest the material and die, thwarting the successful invasion and subsequent reproductive process.

MPBtreatment.com: You mentioned the complicated process of government approval. What agencies are involved?

Facey : The EPA, the US Forest Service and the state regulatory boards that have jurisdiction over pesticide application and labeling in their state.

MPBtreatment.com: Do you think they (agencies) understand the importance of speed in the MPB epidemic?

Facey :Whether they understand the importance is a good question that I cannot answer. What I can tell you is that I have talked to countless property owners in the areas most affected by mountain pine beetle and to a person they are extremely frustrated with the responsible government agencies and feel that they should be doing more to deal with this problem.

Matt Johnson is a blogger and reporter covering arboricultural and tree care issues.  He writes for Mountain Pine Beetle Treatment and ArborScape.

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Posted in Pesticide Applications, Products

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