My original idea was to use the chemical injector that is part of the pressure sprayer. Unfortunately, The chemical injector only works during low pressure so would not work for spraying insecticidal soap. The beauty of using a pressure sprayer for spraying is that the intense stream of spray flips the bamboo leaves, and allows the under side of the leaves to be coated with I. soap. To deliver the I.S. I piggy backed a small hand pump sprayer to the pressure sprayer and sprayed the I.S. directly into the pressurized water stream. The pressure sprayer delivers about 2.5-3 GPM, and the dilution rate for this concentration of I.S. is ~ 4-6Tbs/gal. I diluted the concentrated insecticidal soap 4:1, and sprayed about 2 min, so I delivered about 5 gal of water, and 60 oz of the soap solution. So that's 15oz of concentrate delivered in 5gal of water = 3oz/1gal = 6tbs/gal. which is the highest concentration recommended. I think I can cut it to 5:1, or maybe even 6:1 and do just as well.

BTW I would not use this set up for anything but insecticidal soap, dormant oil, and other fairly benign chemicals such as iron solution. This set up delivers a very fine particle size that fogs the entire area so spraying a strong chemical insecticide could be hazardous to yourself and others if the wind were to turn, or you were to inadvertently breathe the mist.

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David Arnold
Middle Tennessee Bamboo Farm
USDA zone 6b/7a

I think I'd like more info on how exactly you're injecting the I-soap. Just a hand sprayer pumped up and constantly spraying into the pressure stream?

Nice idea! Did you check the leaves to ensure that they're getting adequately soaped?

One thing that bothered me about this setup when you mentioned it initially is the beneficial insects -- mainly mantises. I wouldn't want to kill them too if I could help it. If I do something like this I think I'll do a first pass with the straight water only to give the mantids a chance to evacuate.

I also wouldn't do this during bird nesting season, so this is a great time to do it. Late winter/very early spring probably too. Would you agree?

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Alan.
My blog: It's not work, it's gardening!

Hey Alan,

I locked the hand sprayer on while spraying, and turned it off between sprays. If you look at the pics you can see that I attached the sprayer nozzle to the end of the pressure wand, and sprayed directly into the high pressure stream.

Looking at the leaves after spraying they felt slick, and smelled like I.S. so I think they were covered pretty well.

As you and I spoke about before, the high pressure stream exposed the undersides of the leaves to the spray where most of the critters live.

I worry about killing beneficials as well, especially the lacewings and mantis. We have had a really good crop of both this year and the lacewings have laid eggs, and I've seen several really fat female mantis getting ready to lay. I blasted the grove with water at first to wet the leaves, and that should have given everything a chance to escape. I think spraying small areas late in the year and early spring should probably not hurt the good bugs too much.

I was pleased with the results, and will probably refine the set up for ease of use.

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David Arnold
Middle Tennessee Bamboo Farm
USDA zone 6b/7a

BTW, which species are you spraying in these photos?

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Alan.
My blog: It's not work, it's gardening!

What insects are you trying to get rid of?

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Brad Salmon, zone 5b/6 Southern Indiana
Winters -20 to -25C. Summers 30 to 35C , humid. 115 cm annual precipitation, frost free from May through early October. 259.3 meters elevation. Growing 150+ species. http://www.needmorebamboo.com/

Consider yourself fortunate if you are not engaged in a bamboo mite war. I have received plants from at least two vendors with mites, and found them in the wild two years ago on AG. Think of this device as an escalation in the war against mites!

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David Arnold
Middle Tennessee Bamboo Farm
USDA zone 6b/7a

Ah, mites, no, currently I don't believe that I have them. I also received some in the mail from west coast vendors but it never became a problem and they have not taken hold here. It would be interesting to see if the tiny difference in our winters is enough to keep them at bay.

I do have some new mold from TN!

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Brad Salmon, zone 5b/6 Southern Indiana
Winters -20 to -25C. Summers 30 to 35C , humid. 115 cm annual precipitation, frost free from May through early October. 259.3 meters elevation. Growing 150+ species. http://www.needmorebamboo.com/

Would that be Middle or Southern TN?

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David Arnold
Middle Tennessee Bamboo Farm
USDA zone 6b/7a

Do mites require a certain temperature to become a major problem or does the extreme cold kill off the eggs?

I've been quarantining and spraying my boos as I get them so I haven't seen them around here yet, but there are more and more bamboo growers around here these days so it could become a threat if they survive up here.

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http://www.flickr.com/photos/31489820@N02/

http://stevespeonygarden.blogspot.com/

I think the cold certainly plays a role in whether or not the mites are able to establish themselves from one season to the next.

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David Arnold
Middle Tennessee Bamboo Farm
USDA zone 6b/7a

I seem to recall a certain Ohio bamboo vendor mentioning battling bamboo mites in his A. gigantea for several years.

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Southern Indiana. Theoretically the same climate as 'needmore' & 'Eastlandia'.
My Bamboo List.

"Take Dog apart. Disinfect. Reassemble."

Mites don't like wet weather. Humid air makes them suffer and they thrive in dry warm weather. Here we can have problems with mites indoors and rarely outside, because there's usually enough rain to keep them controlled.

As far as I know, the most important factor is humidity. Perhaps winter temperature does have an influence on mite population, but I'm sure these creatures can "regroup" quite fast after strong winter's carnage.

That would be about 1.5 hours SW of Nashville, from a quarantine house, not central TN! I'm not sure what it is, its new to me and seems to stay put, thus far it is only on the culms that it came on not spreading to new ones on those plants but is still present there. It looks like a white gack that forms on branch & branchlet stems at the junctions - all junctions - leaves, culms etc.

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Brad Salmon, zone 5b/6 Southern Indiana
Winters -20 to -25C. Summers 30 to 35C , humid. 115 cm annual precipitation, frost free from May through early October. 259.3 meters elevation. Growing 150+ species. http://www.needmorebamboo.com/

Bambusoides tend to get aphids in fall. Read that if you cut back on water the problem is far less. Had some piping problems and couldn't water my madake grove this summer. The grove looks fine & no aphids. Interesting. Rgds