Stability of imidacloprid (Premise 75) in a tank-mixed aqueous solution when stored in shade or sunlight.

Polyethylene tanks are commonly used by pest management professionals to mix and apply termiticides. These termiticides are susceptible to rapid photolysis and the ability of application tanks to filter sunlight has been questioned. We investigated the stability of imidacloprid (Premise 75) in aqueous solutions stored in polyethylene tanks under shade or sunlight. Chemical analysis of aqueous solutions sampled at 0, 24, 48, 72, 168 and 336 h revealed that imidacloprid was relatively stable. Our results indicate that polyethylene tanks are adequate to protect imidacloprid from photo degradation.