I am novice like you and I don't know the specifics about your area. I live in central Maryland Zone 7. My spray schedule this year was simple. First spray was early in March with Dormant oil tree spray. After that I sprayed weekly using a product called SVEN. The results were OK the pears were very successful I have pear fruits I don't know what to do with it. I felled my pick-up truck and took to the soup kitchen. The Apple was not that good and I don't know why? The Figs and Apricot were very good. I do spray the same product on my vegetables but with half concentration.

Foolishpleasure,

Assuming you're not referring to Sven and Helga, I think you meant to write "Sevin".

If that's the case, you may want to be careful using Sevin on apples. It is considered a thinner and can thin off apples if used early.

I'm glad you had success, but the role of Sevin was probably minimal. Pears, because they're so hard, are pretty insect resistant without spray. Apricots can be early enough they beat the insects. If you've got nothing else, regular Sevin is better than nothing, but the problem with it is it has such a short residual. More often than not, it's good for about 3 days. The commercial product Sevin XLR was formulated to try to solve this problem, but even it only lasts a week.

Sevin is great for certain beetles, but for internal feeders a better choice would be Triazicide Once and Done.

Hi Olpea
Thank you for the information. When I went to the chemical company, I asked them for a supply of Triazicide. They asked me why do you need it? When I explained to them that I have some Orchard trees and I need to spray the trees to protect against insects. They told me you can not use Triazicide on fruits because it penetrate the fruit and washing the fruit will not help. They further said Triazicide is a soil spray to kill the insects in the ground not on the tree. They suggested I use Seven. When I read the label I knew that Seven has limitation. But those people scared the Hell out of me if I use Triazicide. I use Triazicide to spray the lawn and the ground around the trees.
My state of mind now = Confused. Did I say I am novice. I think I said.

Hi Foolishpleasure,

The chemical rep you talked to doesn't know what he's talking about in this case.

There are a couple different formulations of Triazicide that I know of. One is a granule and is not approved for fruit trees. I've no idea what's in it.

The other that I'm familiar with is a liquid concentrate and is labeled for a wide range of fruits. The active ingredient is Gamma Cyhalothrin which has no locally systemic activity. In other words, it's mode of action relies on the surface residue of the chemical, not on any penetrant activity. Further evidence that is doesn't move systemically is that in rain-study trials that class of chemicals (pyrethroids) are highly susceptible to wash-off, rendering them ineffective after heavy rains.

All that said, there may be a very tiny amount of the chemical that could penetrate the skin, but it's probably not going to be any more than any other non-systemic insecticide (including Sevin).

I wouldn't buy the Triazicide from your chemical supplier. They probably don't have the right formulation anyway. You can simply pick it up a Walmart or Home Depot in the Lawn and Garden area. Just peel back the label right there in the store to make sure it's labeled for the fruits you intend to use it on. I don't think it's labeled for figs, but I'm pretty sure it's labeled for all the other fruits you mention.