Help me answer a question.

[luvmexfood]

I work part-time for one of the major lawn and garden chemical companies. Saturday I was working in a store when asked a similiar question twice. One kept saying a tree but the more we discussed it it was a stump. The other was a dead tree with a treehouse in it.

Anyway, I know our company has only regular insecticide but both their questions were is there anything you can spray on the bark of a dead tree to stop any further insect damage that is inside the bark.

[BaldBob]

The smart alec answer is yes - Gasoline, deisel or similar while you burn up the stump. That will stop all further insect activity under the bark. The practical answer is no. I don't know of any compound that will penetrate the bark and all the wood of a standing dead tree (stump)that will prevent further insect activity on that object.

[Ianab]

Well nothing that you can buy legally, or would want to be spraying around your back yard anyway.... ;)

You don't want to create the next EPA cleanup zone...

[tj240]

once the insects are in it its over they will stay and why keep a dead tree

[Jeff]

I'd remove any lose bark and start a spray regimen and spray with liquid sevin. That stuff kills almost everything that crawls or flies. Almost any insect that lives in a tree emerges in one form or another at some point.

[SwampDonkey]

TJ, since your in maple country, you know full well that a sugar maple yard tree will stand in a yard until the last bit of life is gone. Often you have a 10 foot half rotten stub, with one or two main side branches with a few leaves that hang on to life for fall color. :D ;)

[luvmexfood]

Well the one customer had a treehouse in it and wanted to save it. I'm thinking dangerous.

Second woman was explaining about her flower bed around the tree and thinking it has termites. After 5 minutes of this I asked how big the tree was. She said oh about 30 inches. Oh I said so you mean a stump. Yes she was blond.