Metasystox-R, applied in Mauget injectors, ineffective in protecting individual ponderosa pines from western pine beetles

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Publication Information

Title: Metasystox-R, applied in Mauget injectors, ineffective in protecting individual ponderosa pines from western pine beetles

Author: Haverty, Michael I.; Shea, Patrick J.; Wenz, John M.

Date: 1996

Source: Res. Note PSW-RN-420. Albany, CA: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Southwest Research Station. 7 p

Station ID: RN-PSW-420

Description: The effectiveness of registered application rates of the insecticide metasystox-R applied with Mauget tree injectors (INJECT-A-CIDE) was assessed in two strategies: (1) treatment of trees before western pine beetle attack (preventive treatment), and (2) treatment of trees after attack by western pine beetle (remedial treatment) for protection of individual, high-value ponderosa pine. This field test was conducted on the western slope of the Sierra Nevada on the Eldorado National Forest in central California by using three treatments: metasystox-R injected about 14 days before the onset of beetle attack; metasystox-R injected about 7 days after the onset of beetle attack; and an untreated check. Tree injectors were spaced at 15-cm intervals at the root crown around the entire circumference of each tree. All trees in every treatment were baited with the western pine beetle aggregation pheromone. The criterion used to determine effectiveness was whether individual trees succumbed to attack by western pine beetle and eventually died. Metasystox-R treatments were considered ineffective if significantly less than 90 percent of the treated trees survived. Residues of metasystox-R were detectable (an average of 0.10 ppm to 0.84 ppm) in the foliage for each collection period (5, 20, and 40 days post treatment) for both the preventive and remedial treatments. Residue levels of metasystox-R in the phloem were not assessed. Both metasystox-R treatments failed to meet the criterion of efficacy (greater than or equal to 10 percent of trees killed). Furthermore, neither metasystox-R treatment resulted in significantly less (or more) mortality than the untreated check treatment. Therefore, the registered use procedures for injections of metasystox-R were not efficacious.

Key Words: Dendroctonus brevicomis, Pinus ponderosae, tree protection, insecticide efficacy, Injecticide

Publication Notes:

Citation

Haverty, Michael I.; Shea, Patrick J.; Wenz, John M. 1996. Metasystox-R, applied in Mauget injectors, ineffective in protecting individual ponderosa pines from western pine beetles Res. Note PSW-RN-420. Albany, CA: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Southwest Research Station. 7 p.