# How to mix Spinosad or bacillus thuringiensis for use on lawn for sod webworms



## tragiclawn (Oct 4, 2020)

Hello,

I constantly see many articles online mentioning that when sod webworms are in their infant stage Spinosad OR bacillus thuringiensis can be effective at killing them and prevent killing other helpful insect on the lawn like an insecticide. The problem is, i cannot find ANY products that contain these that have directions on how it can be applied to your lawn and how much to apply.

Does anyone have any experience with using these products on their lawn?
1. What product did you use? ( link is helpful )
2. How did you mix/prepare it for use?
3. What tool did you use to apply it?

Thanks


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## mjh648 (Sep 1, 2020)

heres a decent one below. You can also find this stuff at a local nursery or feed store. Quality feed and garden on Main street is where I got mine. also got some bifenthrin granules and liquid bifenthrin from them to try to use Randy Lemmons sod webworm process https://ktrh.iheart.com/featured/gardenline-with-randy-lemmon/content/2020-08-06-sod-webworm-wipeout-the-extreme-protocol/

bT from domyown. https://www.domyown.com/southern-ag-thuricide-bt-caterpillar-control-p-8938.html

and here's the label

https://www.domyown.com/msds/ThuricideBT-Caterpillar-label.pdf

I've always just used a hose end sprayer since it's organic my thought process is I don't need to be as precise as a pump sprayer.

Something like this is easy to use. https://www.amazon.com/Chapin-Works-G385-Insecticide-Sprayer/dp/B00UER1S8M/ref=sr_1_6?dchild=1&keywords=hose+end+sprayer&qid=1603384368&s=lawn-garden&sr=1-6

you can also find this locally. Not sure if quality feed had this since I already had one.

Fill up your concentrate and then top the rest off with how many gallons it needs to be mixed with. The southern ag product states 1.5 ounces bT with 3 gallons of water for 1000SF. So 3 ounces of liquid and then fill up the sprayer to the 6 gallon line and you have enough to spray on 2000SF. Rinse and repeat.

I'm honestly not sure what other options were if you didn't want to have to refill that mutliple times.


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## tragiclawn (Oct 4, 2020)

mjh648 said:


> heres a decent one below. You can also find this stuff at a local nursery or feed store. Quality feed and garden on Main street is where I got mine. also got some bifenthrin granules and liquid bifenthrin from them to try to use Randy Lemmons sod webworm process https://ktrh.iheart.com/featured/gardenline-with-randy-lemmon/content/2020-08-06-sod-webworm-wipeout-the-extreme-protocol/
> 
> bT from domyown. https://www.domyown.com/southern-ag-thuricide-bt-caterpillar-control-p-8938.html
> 
> ...


Hey @mjh648 ,

I bought a "Orth dial n spray" hoping to use it with that thuricide i found at home depot. Adding 1 table spoon inside the sprayer is so small it wouldn't be able to be picked up by the ortho sprayer! I could mix it with water and shake it up but that would dilute it and means it wouldn't be applied in the same quantity as the directions!

I don't understand how your reasoning about mixing this with your hose end sprayer. Adding water into that container would diluate the concentrate. How would you go about doing this with the ortho dial n spray?


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## mjh648 (Sep 1, 2020)

It's different with that device it looks like. The way I would do it is different than the way you would do it. If you can tell from my product on the amazon description on the first picture I have 2 measurements on the sides of my sprayer. One measurement is ounces to measure my concentrate. The other measurement is gallons for water. So let's say I have 1000SF I need to spray bT on. That is 1,5 ounces of bT I would pour into the sprayer first. First measurement is 4 ounces so I would just eyeball what 1.5 ounces looks like or use another measuring device that went that small. Then when I get my concentrate in there I would then fill it up to the 3 gallon mark. Doing that my sprayer would now distribute the concentrate at the 1.5 ounce per 3 gallon rate. I would just make sure my sprayer is depleted after the 1000SF.

You sprayer you just pour in the concentrate and don't dilute it and use the notch to set your distribution rate. I'm guessing the notch is per gallon of concentrate so your rate is 1.5 ounce / 3 gallons which is 0.5 ounce / gallon. Maybe just dump the whole thing in there, set the dial to the correct setting, spray and then dump it back into the original container? Looking at some documents for your sprayer you need at least 8 ounces of concentrate to form sufficient internal pressure.

You could maybe look at adding enough water to the concentrate to get to the 8oz line and then do some math to make the notch settings accurate. Like let's say you needed 4 ounces of concentrate. Just add 4 ounces of water to it and double the distribution rate?


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## tragiclawn (Oct 4, 2020)

mjh648 said:


> It's different with that device it looks like. The way I would do it is different than the way you would do it. If you can tell from my product on the amazon description on the first picture I have 2 measurements on the sides of my sprayer. One measurement is ounces to measure my concentrate. The other measurement is gallons for water. So let's say I have 1000SF I need to spray bT on. That is 1,5 ounces of bT I would pour into the sprayer first. First measurement is 4 ounces so I would just eyeball what 1.5 ounces looks like or use another measuring device that went that small. Then when I get my concentrate in there I would then fill it up to the 3 gallon mark. Doing that my sprayer would now distribute the concentrate at the 1.5 ounce per 3 gallon rate. I would just make sure my sprayer is depleted after the 1000SF.
> 
> You sprayer you just pour in the concentrate and don't dilute it and use the notch to set your distribution rate. I'm guessing the notch is per gallon of concentrate so your rate is 1.5 ounce / 3 gallons which is 0.5 ounce / gallon. Maybe just dump the whole thing in there, set the dial to the correct setting, spray and then dump it back into the original container? Looking at some documents for your sprayer you need at least 8 ounces of concentrate to form sufficient internal pressure.
> 
> You could maybe look at adding enough water to the concentrate to get to the 8oz line and then do some math to make the notch settings accurate. Like let's say you needed 4 ounces of concentrate. Just add 4 ounces of water to it and double the distribution rate?


Hey @mjh648 ,

Thanks soo much this makes complete sense. BTW, where did u ready that the Orth Dial n spray needs atleast 8 oz of concentrate? I didn't see that anywhere on the label.


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## mjh648 (Sep 1, 2020)

just found some information on a random website about it

https://www.hunker.com/13405844/ortho-dial-n-spray-instructions


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