W. Maalouf of Marshall, VA asks:
“We have a two year old fruit cherry tree orchard. I had business out of the country, so asked my 19 year son to be sure to spray the trees when I was gone because there were worms and the start of the Japanese Beatles. Anyway..I just got home and found out he sprayed Bonide Fruit Tree Spray straight without ANY dilution!!! The leaves of course are all brown now! Some still have a few green leaves and there are no sign of any bugs…but I am wondering if they are history or if we should try to do something to help the matter. Please advise ASAP! One day maybe he will actually read the directions! Thanks for your help….. ”
Well, the first thing I’d say is SCARY!
Bonide is a full-spectrum spray that attacks multiple “problems”, some of which you didn’t have. And, it doesn’t attack some of the things that you do mention having. So, if you were worried about “beatles and worms”, it may have been better to choose a method that would eradicate only those types of pests rather than something that also attacks fungus, scale, mites and other diseases. Even without doing the proper dilution, this product contained poisons that really weren’t necessary.
As I understand it, Bonide contains Captan, Sevin, Malathion and Methoxychlor. Here’s the label so you can read more yourself. Notice that it isn’t even used to control worms (by which I assume you mean caterpillers). Sevin kills bees, so you may have killed off your pollenation population. As well, it would have killed off any parasitic wasps that may have been living in your garden. These are natural predators to caterpillers, and it takes them much longer to repopulate than it does for caterpillers to repopulate, so your ecosystem may be out of balance now. You have also applied a product that kills mites. It is quite likely that your miticide also kills all spiders. Spiders are natural predators to Japanese Bettles. Again, the natural balance is put out of whack by this type of product. And, dare I remind you of the malathion scares and what this product does to humans?
Japanese Beetles are something I don’t deal with in Seattle. But, by doing a bit of reading, I learned that pheremone traps do exist for these buggers. This might be a better option next time. As well, for caterpillers, products like Bt might work for you. Bt is a bacterium that attacks only the caterpillers.
Since your son didn’t dilute the product and apply it according to manufacturer’s directions, anything in the product may have caused the dieback that you’ve seen. What killed the leaves on the trees may be just the “spreader-sticker” that adheres the product to the leaves. This could have suffocated the leaves. But, truly, I’m not sure what portion of the product attacked the plants themselves. Fortunately, this product doesn’t contain an herbicide. I suggest you contact the Bonide corporation to find out what happened.
Personally, I prefer to avoid this kind of product altogether and try to rebuild your natural ecosystem. You’ve applied organophosphates and organocholorides to your edible garden. I suggest you and your son take some time to really understand not only how to properly apply these in the future but what it really means to put them into your garden. My hope is that by having the opportunity to learn more, you will choose to take more eco-friendly steps to manage your orchard in the future.
Good luck & thanks for writing in!
