Once the crape myrtle trees break out of dormancy in the spring and leaves begin to appear, it’s time to apply the soil drench. We have now starting carrying the Ferti-Lome brand of imidacloprid, which is the active ingredient in both of these annual soil drench chemical controls. We tried to break down the treatments to each season with the months of treatment listed above the control method for that time period. Once the trees have dropped all their blooms, which should be happening soon, the systemic insect control spray can be applied. Like the post mentions, it’s a really hard pest to control so follow the treatment schedule for the next few seasons to get it under control.

4 are relatively new trees…as we got them a year or so ago.

We washed all the trees with a brush and soapy water.

I read all your information however, it is now almost April 1st and we have foliage and leaves starting to show. I see no information regarding what to do if there is foliage and leaves.

What do you recommend I spray on our trees to stop the “black stuff”I need to do something because each day we wash the trees the problem is back the very next day.

Lisa

That is unfortunate! We hope you are having good success controlling this pest on your plants!