I'm thinking in the Fall (like now-ish), so as to avoid any conflict (bees) with main bloom in Spring.

Does it really keep CLM down for a whole year?

Tired of spraying and trying to time rain storms...
BC

I applied imidacloprid for the first time about a month ago and there are actually some unmined leaves on the trees. There are also much fewer whiteflies. I hope that it will last for a year as the trees were getting quite deformed from all the insect damage.

We used Bayer Advanced as a test given to us by one of our reps, we used it on allot of our seedling stock in one shade house,,,Worked Great and lasted all year..

Its incredibly expensive to use for us in the nursery but for a private collection its worth the $

In Lakeland Florida, on outdoor trees, Admire Pro (also imidacloprid) used at the label rate gives about 3 months of leafminer (and psyllid) control. I'm not sure -- perhaps the Bayer material allows a higher initial dose??

I get about 3 months out of Bayer Advance, even though the label states 1 year.

i wait until after the first flush in the spring to apply imid. The leaf minor population has not built up enough to be a problem until then. After the first flush, I try to apply it as near to the second flush of growth as possible (normally around June 1 or a little later). Actually I wait until I see a few trees pushing growth. That way one application normally does the job. If I have to apply a second application, I spray the trees.

I apply imidacloprid in June and one application seems to pretty well deter CLM for the season. I use a few applications of spinosad and oil in the spring before the application of imidacloprid. There seems to be more than one label for imidacloprid on citrus. Bayer advance labels limits to once per year. I know that Florida nurseries do at least twice a year for ACP deterrence.

The June imidacloprid dose is having no deterrent effect at all on caterpillars and grasshoppers now. Seems to be a bumper crop year for them, probably because of the rains this summer in Arizona. It sure is green in Tucson now.

@Bing - Glad to hear you are having luck with this stuff out here in Tucson hinterlands. Yes, lots of grasshoppers/locusts/everything else after a very wet and long monsoon this year. Overall, better than too dry. We'll see what El Niño pattern brings this winter.

@Dylan - I too am frustrated with the trees I spend so much time tending looking like crap (at least to my eyes).

I feel like spinosad and neem alone are like bringing a knife to a gun fight with the CLM that seems to get worse each season.

Thanks for all the helpful replies.

So the consensus seems to be:

* Apply imidacloprid after first leaf flush, after first bloom, and fruitlets set? i.e.; about late spring/early summer when CLM activity picks up.
* Use foliar sprays of spinosad, oils, etc., while waiting for ideal application window for imidacloprid, and/or after potency of the imidacloprid wears off (if you are limiting to annual application).
* Seems a fall application would just waste valuable potency during the "dormant" late fall and winter?

BC

I don't know the ideal timing.
The schedule I follow is:

Parafine oil + spinosad after first new growth is going good and a couple more times about a month apart.
imidacloprid application in early June.

My reasoning is that oil +spinosad is pretty effective for a short duration. I don't need anything more than that in the spring. Oil is detrimental to apply after the sun intensity gets high, so that limits summer. By applying the one allowed imidacloprid dose in early june I hope to get maximum effectiveness through the summer months when oil can't be used and I'm not interested in being out in the trees from an extended time anyway because of heat.

I don't believe that imidacloprid is usefully effective for an entire year, more like 3-4 months. If you wanted to ignore the Bayer Advanced label restrictions of one application per year, and go with the mandated Florida nursery ISD (imidacloprid soil drench) no more than 6 months apart, I think you could get total control from 2 applications a year in early spring and mid summer.

Dunno.

Bob, for us here out west, we don't see CLM with the first flush, as do our colleagues in the Gulf states. I do as Bada Bing does, I apply Bayer at the end of June/beginning of July. It seems to hold through until the end of the CLM season. No CLM activity on my treated treats, still in mid-September. No need to apply twice a year. And yes, good analogy about Spinosad + Neem/Volk oil. There are reports that there are some CLM in certain areas (AZ, CA) that are becoming resistant to Spinosad, sadly. And, in the heat of the desert, it can be hard to apply Neem or Volk in combination, due to temps consistently being over 85 degrees.

Thanks Patty & bing... appreciate the input.

I bought a new product , to me, from thebugblaster.com that seems to work pretty good. Better on aphids and white flies but pretty good on scale insects too.

Also, I have not bought yet but have seen an idea that I had thought of but never tried to rig up that is for sale at one small motor shop in town. It is a small tank with hose and nozzle that mounts or fits on to a gas blower like I use to blow off leaves in driveway. It comes in a larger model for back pack blowers too. The water and poison solution goes to nozzle mounted on the end of the air stream nozzle so it makes a small air sprayer powered by the yard blower. It is not made by the small motor shop and should be available on line. Does anybody have more experience with either one of these products ? There might need to be a new thread about this..... Thanks, Tom

Neonicotinoids as Imidachloprid, Thiamethoxam or Clothianidin are extremely harmful to all kinds of bees. They are toxic beneath detectable concentrations. Neonics should not be used -under no circumstances.