Merit 75 WP, which is the same active ingredient, imadicloprid, is approved for use on "Pome Fruits" per the label. I don't personally see why it would be any less safe on a peach than on an apple when sprayed at the same concentration. It also might not be a question of safety, but one of efficacy. Perhaps stone fruits don't absorb the A.I. as well, so it's not effective on them (although I find this hard to believe with this particular compound, since it's pretty universally effective on most any plant). Sometimes, only certain crops are listed on a label because: 1) the safety testing required by the government pre-approval and release is very expensive to conduct 2) the company hoping to release the chemical targets the crops and markets it feels will give it the best return on its investment in terms of the widest use. Just because a certain plant or class of plants isn't listed on the label doesn't necessarily mean that the product won't be safe and effective when used on those crops. It may just mean the company didn't feel like it would be worth the investment to test the chemical on these crops. Also, the tests may be ongoing with results pending, and the company decided to release and later add to the list of approved crops on the label. The thing that I keep thinking about pesticides is how concerned people seem to be about spraying anything on their trees. Yet, the vast majority of people eat fruit imported from all over the world, places like Chile, Honduras, Mexico, etc., where environmental laws, food safety laws, and pesticide laws are much more lax than ours. God only knows what's been used on imported fruit in your average grocery store? Probably stuff that was banned in the U.S. in the 1960's. DDT, for one, is still a widely used chemical around the world, mostly in third world countries with lax laws, because it's cheap and effective at killing bugs, despite all of the colateral damage it does to the ecosystem. The USDA is supossed to test fruit imported from other countries, but the vast majority, more than 98%, slips through untested. Sorry, I spray my plants with insecticides and fungicides. I get fruit, without bugs in it. I eat it. There are plenty of ways to die of cancer -- cell phones, contaminated drinking water from industrial pollution, nitrates and nitrites in hot dogs, radon in the basement, secondhand smoke. And yes, I eat fruit from the grocery store as well in the off season. It doesn't bother me all that much. I take my life in my hands every time I get in the car and drive on the freeway with all of the crazies on the road. I figure a little pesticide residue is the least of my worries.

Close. 20-30 feet. It's got some branches that reach over the house. Strangely, we got a foot of snow during a winter storm (odd for Dallas-Fort Worth), and while nearly every single neighbor had trees down or massive limbs down, this aphid-infected cottonwood didn't drop a twig. I don't know whether to take that as an indicator of its relative health/strength, or if we just got lucky. What I find difficult in making an informed decision is that the arborists I've spoken fall into two camps: those that own a pruning service company tell me to take it down (even got an exorbitant estimate of $2600!) while extension agents/forest service types recommend the systemic route first. I've opted for the latter for now, but will monitor the tree's health closely. Thanks for the advice here, and if anyone has anything to add I'd appreciate it.

Hi! My husband and I have a linden tree on our property and in 2006, the beetles just decimated it. It was our main source of shade, so having it defoliated was awful. Anyway, I got some of the Bayer insecticide and applied it but I can't remember if I put it on in fall or spring). The beetles still got to the tree this summer, but not nearly as badly. It looked like the ends of the branches got nailed-all the newer growth. What was weird was we'd lived here for six years before this ever became a problem. And we have a small property, too, about.25 acre, plus there are about 50 rose bushes on the property. So now I am not sure if the Bayer helped or if the beetles just weren't as bad this year but I guess I'll try it again for the next growing season-but I am thinking that maybe I should wait until spring. The tree is fairly mature now-it's as high as our two story house, and about 15 feet across. So I wish you the best, Alexander3, and if anyone has any advice, I'd appreciate it. (and my husband has treated the lawn with milky spore and nematodes, etc., and he keeps the rose bushes treated with something systemic-plus alot of manual control, i.e., knock 'em off the bushes into a coffee can, etc. Oh, and my dogs love to eat them!--so I knock the beetles out of the tree in the early morning, and the dogs run around under the tree munching away-it's rather disgusting)

Being on the pessimistic side, I think I might start thinking about replacement trees. If, like me, you are frugal, then starting your own from seed, or digging up seedlings, might be a way to go. If you grow your own, and keep potting them on into larger pots, you can have 15-gal. root systems, and 6-12' trees at least 4, maybe 5 years, down the road, which seems to be about when you will know if your insecticide/protection program is working or not. The size will be NOTHING like the magnificent ashes you now have growing, but it will be a start in providing it to you again.... Of course, if you can afford it, you CAN buy very large trees as replacements, but if you have read through old posts, you realize that the establishment period for large trees is long, and takes much care - the smaller trees would probably catch up to the bigger ones at the end of 3-6 years, and cost a LOT less, both in money and in effort/water/etc.. I hope you do succeed in your endeavors - and if you do end up with healthy ashes, and no need for your "little" trees, then I am sure you can gift them to someone, even to your town for park plantings.