In prior posts and topics I had received good information and advise about Plum Curculio management. As a backyard grower I determined there were three solutions - Surround, Permethrin and Imidan for PC management. I actually bought all three solutions but I have only been using Imidan this year because I am traveling a lot for work and it seems to work for extended period of time, even with some rain. Now I am starting to see a new pest for me - stink bugs (on trees treated with Imidan). Looking through the posts i see a lot of reference to commercial products for stink bugs that are not viable for me - no conversion rate to gallons, too expensive due to amount sold and likely just not a good idea for a backyard grower.
Unless someone has a suggestion for an insecticide that I have missed that leaves permethrin and surround. I have shied away from Surround due to the effort (again limited by travel) and Permethrin due to its staying power compared to Imidan.
Now I have to reconsider Permethrin. Can someone share there experience with Permethrin? Does it work well against PC and Stink Bugs? How often do you spray? And if it rains do you have to spray again immediately afterwards? Do you recommend a sticker and/or spreader? Looking at an MSU article it looks like the ph level should be between ph 6 - 8.
Looking at the Tengard SFR One Shot Permethrin SFR Insecticide - 1.25 Gallon (Permethrin 36.8%) label they indicate 3 applications a season with a 10 day interval. i have not researched the leaf cycle of a stink bug but aren’t they out all spring/summer?
Any suggestions or help would be greatly appreciated. Spud - aka Richard
I believe you are underestimating the staying power of permithrin, which I think is about equal to Imidan- what Imidan has is a couple days of kickback. Many orchards I manage are now sprayed with a pyrethroid that used to be managed with Imidan and are on the exact same schedule with 10-14 day intervals between sprays. After several years, I haven’t seen reduced protection at the many sites managed this way. The staying power of Imidan is partially based on the fact that legal application quantities are so excessive that more than half can be washed off and it retains killing power. The problem with pyrethroids is the secondary pests they seem to inspire- scale, mites, and even white-fly which I’d never seen a problem in fruit trees before I started using them.
Imidan and Avaunt are weak against bugs, including the stinky kind. Permithrin may be your best option- I use a different pyrethroid for these pests.
I do too and never had a problem with stink bugs. At least on stone fruit. I don’t use it on raspberries, so they go there, damn bugs! I’m going to try spinosad, sprayed late in the evening (raspberries are constantly flowering). The synthetic pyrethroid I use is Lambda-cyhalothrin.
I also us malathion at times on stone fruit too. I rotate the insecticides. Mostly just to try and kill off any possible problems, and to slow down the killing of beneficials. Also it’s what’s handy, and what i have, and has worked well in past seasons. The only bad bug I have seen so far this year is stink bugs. I saw one already.
I’ve read that malathion has good killing power of BMstinkers. Is it still widely available to homeowners? It has long been considered the safest of OP’s and used to kill mosquitoes with aerial spraying over populated areas.
Yes, at my cottage in the 60’s we would spray the whole island, might have been DDT too? I was a little kid. Now we do not and at night in a year with a wet spring. So many mosquito’s are out you can hear a low hum. I’m not kidding! I saw a bug zapper shorted out from them. I have been bit so many times, it has been decades since I react. No bumps, no itch. Like allergy treatments, multiple low doses of the allergen has made me immune to the anticoagulant they inject. (what people react to). It’s still annoying and hurts when they bite. When the mosquito’s are at their worst, the minnows come to the surface to feed on them, and the walleye come to eat the minnows, and I come out to eat the walleyes. I use light casting gear, and pencil plugs. Hard to find those old lures, but they work the best with a touch of weight to make them bob nose down when floating. I have caught hundreds this way. Just cast and/or walk the docks, Repella’s work too. So hence my immunity to the rash as I spent decades doing this. The walleyes will come in to 1 foot of water even to get the minnows. Makes it easy!
Bugs in general - all the stinkers - seem to be most vulnerable as first-stage nymphs. I’d sure like to get a sense of when the the BMSB will be laying eggs.
I’m not sure this will help. They feed on such a wide range of things that sometimes they just jump from the maple trees or any other food source for a nice fruit desert.