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Danville, CA (petman2@yahoo.com)

Everyone speaks of the 1,000 sf application and then watering it in. My question is...what happens if I don't water it in? Does it evaporate, lose effectiveness or .... I plan to spray the entire patch (only a small portion of which has pumpkins since they are still "small") but would prefer not to water the entire patch heavily in order to keep the weeds down to a minimum. Can I just spray the area and only water in deeply where the current soakers are now or do I really have to do the whole area? As the pumpkins grown, the soakers will increase and each area will get watered in "later".

Thanks for any insight here.

5/28/2006 3:32:09 AM

Ctpumpkin@optonline.net

Merit is a systemic insecticide. If it isn't watered in before the spray has dried, then it won't work as a systemic at all. Indeed it will be rapidly degraded by sunlight.

When it is watered in, the roots will readily absorb & translocate the insecticide. The Merit that just enters the soil will eventually be picked up by the roots as they expand for the next 60-75 days & also be translocated by the plant.

Water it in or don't bother using it as a systemic. There are many better contact insecticides that will last longer. Talstar One comes to mind.

5/28/2006 8:09:28 AM