SYSTEMATIC TREE & SHRUB INSECTISIDES

Systemic Insecticide: What Is It And How Do You Use It?   Systemic insecticides have long been available for commercial use by growers to control pests and insects and its availability on a limited basis for the homeowner Most homeowners use primarily contact insecticides… let’s take a quick look at systemics. Simply put… plants absorb the chemcials of the systemic insecticide and transport the active ingredients throughout the plants tissues. The chemicals DO NOT harm the plant, but the plant can now fight off insect pests and invading organisms for an indefinite period.

What Is A Systemic Insecticide?     Plants absorb systemics chemicals much like they absorb miracle-gro plant food. It then renders the plant’s parts, the roots, stems and leaves poisonous to invading organisms. Some systemics remain unchanged in the plant, others find themselves chemically altered before they become active poisons. A plant treated with a systemic pesticide no longer becomes a target for chemicals but becomes a participant in making conditions unfavorable to invaders.

How Do Systemics Enter Plants?    The chemical reaches the internal tissues by first passing through the millions of microscopic cells forming the surface of leaves, stems, roots or seeds unlike the neem oil insecticide and insectidical soap.

How Do Systemics Move Within Plants?  Water and food-conducting tissues are the usual pathways through which these chemicals move over long distances. For example, drenched soil around roots with a systemic compound, show up in the leaves & fruits The reverse direction of movement also occurs. Some systemic pesticides tend to move upward from the point of the insecticide application accumulating in leaf margins, growing tips and storage organs. Others collect in underground parts. Plants differ widely in their response to systemic chemicals. Compounds absorbed through the seed coat may kill organisms invading the seed or seedling plant.