The New Brandt® Tree Injection System is Excellent

I recently assisted a customer, who was injecting ash trees to control emerald ash borer. We were using a newly redesigned injection system from Brandt Consolidated, Inc, called Brandt® enTree® EB. This system has a double wall surgical tubing inside, which contains 25 ml of emamectin benzoate. The system is covered by a plastic sleeve that allows you to look in on the tube to determine the progress of the injection. The top of the unit has a sealed septum where the injection prong is inserted. If the prong is removed, the septum seals back up, so you do not lose any active ingredient. The prong is now clear plastic instead of brown, allowing more visibility of the injection progress.

We drilled 2-inch deep holes at the base of the tree using a 1/4 inch drill bit and a cordless drill. The units were placed on the tree at 1 per 5 inch diameter at breast height, or DBH. This delivers 5 ml of emamectin benzoate per inch, or a two-year application rate. I was amazed at how fast the trees took the material, even on a cloudy morning with waterlogged soil. The longest any unit took was under 2 minutes. The new double wall surgical tubing provided enough pressure to make short work of the injection time. The bubble in the tube will go flat when finished, but there may be a small amount of chemical left in the tip. The trees were actually able to pull the product out of the tip in a few cases.

I also noticed if the prong was left in the tree, but pulled the sleeve off when finished, the

tree would pull the remaining material out of the tip as air was now able to get to the other side of the prong. I am amazed at the speed of the whole process. One person could inject as many as 200 trees per day with this system. All you need to do is drill and set. Once you get to the end, you can come back and remove the empty units. After the units are removed, just discard them in the trash.

Mark Sybouts

Advanced Turf Solutions