Apple tree insecticide?

NDSportsman

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I planted 4 new apple trees this spring. They were 1 gallon potted trees about 6-7 foot tall. I just noticed something has started eating their leaves. It's gotta be some type of insect or worms but I don't see any on the trees. What should I spray on them? Thinking either Sevin or Bonide.
 


tikkalover

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I would use Sevin XLR or Talstar One. With the Talstar One (generic Tempo) you can use it inside the house if you have bug\spider issues, works good on sheeters in the lawn, it comes in a quart bottle.
 

KDM

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For a chemical, Sevin is what I would use. For a non chemical, an ounce of Dawn dish soap in a quart spray bottle will also jack up most bugs pretty well. Spray either one on the branches and trunk as well as the leaves. Good Luck!!
 


guywhofishes

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my honeyberries got pissed off about getting doped with Sevin last year

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I would use Sevin XLR or Talstar One. With the Talstar One (generic Tempo) you can use it inside the house if you have bug\spider issues, works good on sheeters in the lawn, it comes in a quart bottle.

them lawn sheeters are the worst

thanks Obama
 

Big Iron

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I planted 4 new apple trees this spring. They were 1 gallon potted trees about 6-7 foot tall. I just noticed something has started eating their leaves. It's gotta be some type of insect or worms but I don't see any on the trees. What should I spray on them? Thinking either Sevin or Bonide.

I had the same thing happen this year to my Bur Oaks and Princeton Elms. Damn bugs ate every leaf on them back to the stem. Probably not going to make it thru the winter now.

I'm curious to see what everyone recommends for a remedy.
 

NDbowman

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I had the same thing happen this year to my Bur Oaks and Princeton Elms. Damn bugs ate every leaf on them back to the stem. Probably not going to make it thru the winter now.

I'm curious to see what everyone recommends for a remedy.

Have worms eating the leaves off of our golden willows. Been using Sevin on them, seems to work. Had the same worms last year. The trees last year that they ate all the leaves off before we noticed them ended up dying.
 


PrairieGhost

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When the tree is older don't use Sevin when they are in blossom. If you have a crab apple that's making a mess in your yard dust it with Sevin when it is in blossom. Somehow it tricks the blossoms into thinking they have been pollinated and you get zero apples.
 

NDbowman

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For a chemical, Sevin is what I would use. For a non chemical, an ounce of Dawn dish soap in a quart spray bottle will also jack up most bugs pretty well. Spray either one on the branches and trunk as well as the leaves. Good Luck!!


what exactly does the dawn dish soap in water do to bugs? Sounds like a good non toxic way to control them.
 

Allen

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what exactly does the dawn dish soap in water do to bugs? Sounds like a good non toxic way to control them.


It's called sodium lauryl sulfate. Heck of a surfactant. Basically, it suffocates the bugs as the small openings in their exoskeleton are full of water. Without it, the water tends to bead up and the insects can walk on water tension. Add just a little dish soap or shampoo and they sink and drown. It also has a desiccating effect on bugs which is yet another mode of death for them. It's one of the key ingredients in insecticidal soaps that are commercially available.
 
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NDSportsman

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Sprayed my trees with Sevin and a bunch of tiny green inch worms fell out of them. Dirty bastards! I saw some flys on the trees too. Wonder if those worms are a fly larvae. Gonna hit them again next week after the rains.
 

Dirty

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Sprayed my trees with Sevin and a bunch of tiny green inch worms fell out of them. Dirty bastards! I saw some flys on the trees too. Wonder if those worms are a fly larvae. Gonna hit them again next week after the rains.

Those are Cankerworms...more commonly called inchworms. They will completely defoliate huge areas of trees and are really bad in our creek bottom land for the third year in a row now. They go in cycles I guess...2 to 7 really bad years and then up to 15 years where they are hardly noticeable. They love fruit trees among other types. They have really caused some damage to our apple trees, which can't take the stress of being defoliated year after year. It's good to know you found something that might work on them. I'm going to try it.
 
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BDub

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I live down by Briardale. The canker worms were crazy. We paid for aerial spraying. Seems to be working. Dead ones every where. They get constipated and die.
 

NDSportsman

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Those are Cankerworms...more commonly called inchworms. They will completely defoliate huge areas of trees and are really bad in our creek bottom land for the third year in a row now. They go in cycles I guess...2 to 7 really bad years and then up to 15 years where they are hardly noticeable. They love fruit trees among other types. They have really caused some damage to our apple trees, which can't take the stress of being defoliated year after year. It's good to know you found something that might work on them. I'm going to try it.
So far so good it seems to have killed them or kept them out of my apple trees. We have 3 old apple trees in the yard and I don't believe I've seen this little buggers before but they are pretty small. Haven't noticed a lot of leaf damage on our other trees.
 

KDM

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It's called sodium lauryl sulfate. Heck of a surfactant. Basically, it suffocates the bugs as the small openings in their exoskeleton are full of water. Without it, the water tends to bead up and the insects can walk on water tension. Add just a little dish soap or shampoo and they sink and drown. It also has a desiccating effect on bugs which is yet another mode of death for them. It's one of the key ingredients in insecticidal soaps that are commercially available.

Nailed it Allen!! I spray my plum, apple, cherry, and pear trees with the dawn dish soap mixture whenever the aphids get stacked on the new growth. It works real well on them too. However, I avoid blossom time. It negatively affects pollenation.
 

Dirty

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For a chemical, Sevin is what I would use. For a non chemical, an ounce of Dawn dish soap in a quart spray bottle will also jack up most bugs pretty well. Spray either one on the branches and trunk as well as the leaves. Good Luck!!


How many times a year do you spray your fruit trees with the Dawn dish soap mixture? Do you use any chemical sprays in between your Dawn treatments? Is there any downside that you are aware of to using the Dawn dish soap treatment.

This is the first time I've heard of it and I would prefer this over any chemical insecticide if it proves effective.

Thanks!
 

KDM

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I use the soap mix on my fruit trees early in the season when the leaves are just popping out to thwart those early worm type pests (if needed) and then again if I start seeing aphids start to bunch up on the new growth leaves. I avoid using it during the flowering stages. The only downside to the mix that I have found is if you use too much soap in the mix or use it too often. It can gum up the leaves and dirt will stick causing some issues. Other than that, I've had zero problems.
 


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