This method largely relies on harnessing the tree's vascular system to translocate and distribute the active compounds into the wood, canopy and roots where protection or nutrition is needed.
The most infamous examples are that of fungi in the genus Ophiostoma that cause Dutch Elm Disease (DED)[17] and the insect known as the emerald ash borer (Agrilus planipennis)[18] which have specific biologies that lead to severe internal damage of wood and thus tree death, and which make their management extremely difficult or inefficient with classical pesticide application methods.
In landscapes and urban zones trunk injection significantly reduces the non-target exposure of water, soil, air, and wildlife to pesticides and fertilizers.
A number of newly occurring and fast spreading invasive insect pests and diseases such as Polyphagous Shot Hole Borer (PSHB) (Euwallacea spp.
),[21] which can vector plant pathogenic fungus Fusarium euwallaceae,[22] and Sudden Oak Death (SOD) caused by an Oomycete Phytophthora ramorum, establish the use of endotherapy as the most efficient tree protection technique in landscapes and urban forestry.