I read the application directions and it seems to say that as long as the Forbid has a chance to dry before it rains it should be effective.

I think you probably should have treated the entire plant, not just the tips. You only have to spray one surface of the foliage, not both.

last year I defoliated everything and still sprayed the whole plant down, but there was no way that was happening this time, heh!

there were only a small handful of tips that even looked suspicious, and I did get a fairly even covering of MOST of the plants, but the sheer size of them and their location made it completely impossible for me to be positive I'd hit the whole plant :\ these are 10+ foot tall monsters sitting against the railing of an elevated deck, so there's NO way I could have gotten any more than I did.

I'll hit them again in a week and a half and try to cover even more than I did this time, but I think I did pretty well considering :P

Don't reapply Forbid in a week and a half. It shouldn't be used more then 3 times at most during the growing season.

eugh, really? eddie told me to hit them twice whenever I applied it, ten days apart.

should I try to find an alternative like avid or something? cause now I'm worried I didn't get enough of the surface area even though I sprayed like hell, lol.

I think its the other one that you have to re apply in 10 days but not sure. Thats in case you didn't get the underside of the leaves good and some more hatch. The ovicide takes care of the eggs as well.