did i OVERDOSE my bamboo?

[yogayogadarla]

i believe i may have overdosed my giant timber bamboo.
(i am the original yoga darla who posted about mealy bugs in 2004. the thread was called "Over Run!".)

anyway- we treated the base of the plants with merit yesterday.
they look okay today my my DH is concerned we followed the wrong instructions.

the question is- if we have overdosed them (1 TBLS of merit per gallon of water) what now? will overwatering them dilute the chemical? will it kill them? they are all over 45' tall and about 7 years old. certainly the mealy bugs are going to die- but now it's just a concern for the health of the plants.

many thanks for all your help-
darla magee
houston TX
yogadarla@gmail.com

[CaroleMeckes]

Hello and welcome back Darla!

Is this the first time that you treated the plants with Merit?

Just hang loose - it takes a little time for the Merit to work. Just treat your plants as you would have normally treated them.

By the way - what is DH mean?

Carole

[yogayogadarla]

hi carole,

thanks for your response.
YES! i have treated them with merit almost every other year since they first were infected, it works great and there were no problems and no side effects. we used the dosage we thought was what we used before BUT then upon opening a half used bottle we found a 1/4 TBLS inside- and we had been using a whole tablespoon per gallon. Once we discovered it we cut back to one tablespoon per 2 gallon bucket.

today my DH (dear husband) mentioned he thought maybe we over did it. upon a close look there does not seem to be any chemical burns or strangeness "cosmetically" but since Merit is systemic i fear the worse may happen eventually. i have ran the sprinklers on them 3 times since their treatment hoping to dilute the dose. (but i dont want to drown them!) oy!

i cant really find anything online about overdosing the bamboo- most information is about potential dog overdose, apparently Merit had the same ingredient as Advantix and other flea/tick treatments for dogs.

i wonder how bad this could be. we have two large stands one 45' long and the other 100' long. at a very tall 45' (or so) high you can understand my distress!

any help or intelligence on this would be greatly appreciated.

blessings
darla





Hello and welcome back Darla!

Is this the first time that you treated the plants with Merit?

Just hang loose - it takes a little time for the Merit to work. Just treat your plants as you would have normally treated them.

By the way - what is DH mean?

Carole

[CaroleMeckes]

I'd say just relax and maybe the mealy bugs will be gone forever with the extra dosage.

By the way - I am over in Port Arthur, Texas this weekend for the Buu Mon Lotus and Bamboo Festival (http://www.bamboocentral.net/upcominevents/lotusbamboofestival.html) - you are not too far away in Houston - so if you have time drive over here on Sunday and you could see their impressive collection of bamboos and meet some other bamboo enthusiasts...

http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/data/500/thumbs/BuuMonGardenADSCN3388.jpg (http://www.bamboocraft.net/bamboo/showphoto.php?photo=5162) www.buumon.org