Question
Hi Jim,

I had trouble with a borer digging a big hole in a 5 caliper inch Japaneses Maple in the spring. I sprayed the tree trunk as per your directions at 2.5 teaspoons in a half gallon of water soaking the tree trunk.

I have a couple of semi-dwarf red delicious and yellow delicious fruit trees that also have a hole or two in their trunks. I sprayed the trunks with the same solution up to just above the lower set of branches which would be about 25 inches off the ground to hopefully help those trees avoid further damage. How safe is it to eat the apples off that tree this year?

Back on the maple tree from the first paragraph, I noticed a smaller hole about 6 inches off the ground on this tree. This hole is only about one half inch in diameter, but I learned the borer dug upward about two inches as I can stick a thin metal rod that far up into the hole. I sprayed Merit into that hole but had no way to spray the merit upward into that 2 inch space. How do I know the Merit impacted the borer who made this hole?

Many thanks Jim!

Appreciatively,

Mike

Answer
The Merit insecticide will be absorbed by the bark and first layers of wood and this is where the borer is living. The borer will come in contact with the insecticide killing the insect. There is no problem with eating fruit from trees that have the trunks sprayed with Merit. It will not move to the fruit. IF you are not seeing any new signs such as wood shavings or oozing sap you have killed the borer. I hope this helps.