Hi Yield 38 specifically says not for edible fruit trees. I have some from treating our ornamental plum trees for borers. Can it be dilluted down for edible fruit trees? it seems that all that’s in it is permethrin, so shouldn’t a different dillution work? if not, I’m curious why not. and if so, I’m aiming for a dillution of 2.5% permethrin for peach borers as a trunk drench, correct?
No.
Also, I would not use any concentration of Permethrin on edible crops. There are better alternatives.
I’m ignorant here, can you explain why it can not be dilluted down and what better option there would be for peach borers? neem and milky spore/nematodes have not controlled the problem for years and I’m resorting to chemicals before we lose a tree or all three.
Read the entire set of instructions. On my bottle under ornamentals it specifically said not for crops, then a few pages later it gave the instructions for use on edible crops. In addition the exact same active ingredient has slightly different instructions depending on which bottle you get.
Some lower concentration Hi-yield are labeled for fruit. In my experience with grasshoppers, it sucks though. Might be different with other insects. I think young grasshoppers could chug the stuff at their kegger and gain super powers.
Never used it myself… Am curious though… If it’s not systemic, what is the harm in using it on the trunk of a tree to kill borers? Is there some other method it could make it into the fruit and potentially be dangerous for consumption? Or some other danger or fear than that?
Permethrin: Permethrin is found in numerous products such as Fertilome Kill-A-Bug
II. However, these products often only have Peach Twig Borer and Lesser Peachtree
Borer on the label. Fortunately, permethrin is also found in Hi-Yield Garden and Farm
Insect Control, Hi-Yield 38 Plus and the commercial product Astro. These products
have a wide borer label including both roundheaded and flatheaded borers. Permethrin
is not systemic and works by killing the adult insect before it lays eggs or killing the
young borer larva as it hatches from the egg and tries to bore into the bark.
Therefore, the product must be present on the bark before the eggs hatch. It is
important to apply the product to runoff so that all the little nooks and crannies in the
bark are treated. Only the trunk and lower sections of major branches need be
treated.
Keeping the product on the trunk for some of these borers can be a real challenge. For
example, trees attacked by the flatheaded apple tree borer would need protection
from May through August. The label recommends reapplication every 21 days. Note
that none of these products are labeled for borers in fruiting apple trees. Again, the
best borer control is a healthy, vigorous tree.
It is also recommended for control of pine beetles that bore into bark. A big problem in my area.
There is a lot of conflicting info on permethrin use. Heck as I pointed out three label on my own bottle contradicts itself. Honestly you should spend an evening to educate yourself of what exactly it is so you can sort out the contradictions.
Heck if you are spraying it just on the trunk and not the fruit I would say go to town; compared to most insecticides contact toxicity is ridiculously low. How low? Well it is also sprayed in bedding to control lice, sprayed in clothes as an insect repellent, and used in lotions to treat skin conditions, not counter indicated even for pregnant women. I would still avoid contact just as a matter of principle but absorption through the skin is minimal and unlike other compounds the body seems to have an easy time metabolizing it out of your system.
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