Tree Injection for Protection of Orchard Crops
Trunk injection of chemicals into trees for systemic treatment using the Chemjet Tree Injectors is an environmentally sound and economical method for protection of orchard crops.
Tree injection uses the natural transpiration of the tree to distribute pesticides, fungicides and nutrients to the areas where treatment is needed without releasing chemicals in the environment (as opposed to spraying or drenching the ground with chemicals). With direct injection into the circulatory system of a tree, a much lower volume of chemical is needed because it all goes into the tree, leaving none on the ground or on exterior tree bark for exposure to unintended receptors such as beneficial insects, birds, animals or people.
Growers conventionally rely upon mechanized or hand held sprayers to deliver crop protection materials. The sprayers use large quantities of pesticides and are relatively inefficient in that a small fraction of the chemical sprayed is actually delivered to the pest; the vast majority drifting to the ground or other off target receptors. The use of sprayers inherently creates risk to the environment, orchard workers and other recipients of the over-spray. Spraying kills unintended beneficial insects such as honey bees. With soil drench methods used to apply crop protection mixtures to the ground surface, only a small portion of chemical is taken up by the root systems, and the rest is wasted into the subsurface environment and groundwater.
Trunk injections are used for protection of avocado, coconut, apple, citrus, nuts and other orchard crops.
Tree Injection using Chemjet®
The Chemjet Tree Injector is a spring-loaded syringe-like device, with a tapered nozzle. The chemical is drawn through the nozzle into the chamber of the injector in measured quantities. The injector handle is pulled back to energize the spring pressure and locked open with a twist. Holes are drilled into the tree using an 11/64 bit to a depth of about one inch, and the Chemjet nozzle is pressed into the hole by hand to make a tight seal. The Chemjet is then left unattended to inject at a steady low pressure of about 20 PSI which does not damage the inner bark layers, and allows discharge of chemical into the xylem at a rate that is accommodated by the natural capacity of the tree to accept more liquid. Here is a brief video demonstrating how the Chemjet is used to inject a tree.
Tapping into the natural transpiration of a tree with proper timing allows chemicals to be transported and rapidly dissipated throughout the entire tree, from the roots to the leaves, effectively minimizing waste and allowing efficient use of treatment chemical.
Economical and Simple
The process of tree injection has traditionally been conducted by tree care professionals using injection devices that are very expensive and specialized. This has caused tree injection to be costly and as a result infrequently applied.
But with use of the reloadable Chemjet Tree Injector, treatment is very economical. The low cost of the Chemjet Tree Injector (products) allows orchard workers to save time and use multiple injectors simultaneously. For example, one worker can use multiple Chemjets to conduct injection treatment on a batch of 20 orchard trees at a time, and be finished in minutes. Then after injection is complete the Chemjets can be removed from the trees, refilled from a bucket of treatment chemical mix right in the orchard, and deployed on the next 20 trees.
The Chemjet Tree Injector is inexpensive, rugged, refillable and reusable. And with proper care and maintenance could be used repeatedly for many years.
Additional information on trunk injection for treatment of orchard trees is presented in these technical papers:
https://citrusindustry.net › 2023 › 02 › 03 › trunk-injection-for-hlb-what-you-need-to-know
Trunk Injection: A Discriminating Delivering System for Horticulture Crop IPM, John C. Wise, 2014
More Information:
Buy Chemjet Tree Injectors Now
Oak Wilt Disease and Treatment
Save your trees from Pine Bark Beetle
Case Study: Microinjection to Protect Trees from Oak Wilt
Hemlock Woolly Adelgid Treatment
Asian Longhorned Beetle Treatment
Plugs for Tree Injection Holes
Video: Chemjet use in Australia
