Dormant Oils and Fruit Trees: Yay or Nay to Spray?
Annie Spiegelman
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The first dormant oils were heavy and you couldn't safely use them on actively growing plants or you could damage the foliage.
A commonly used product is "dormant oil," available at most garden centers and hardware stores. The oil blocks air holes through which insects breathe, causing death by asphyxiation.
Dormant Oil Spray
If your trees and shrubs play host to the same pests year after year, consider making the effort to make this oil-soap spray that is applied while the plants are dormant.
Dormant oil - Oil sprayed on deciduous trees while they are dormant. Dormant oils are used to kill overwintering insects or insect eggs on plant bark.\ ...
DORMANT OIL - A great horticultural oil to be used on fruit trees or any plant material that has insects. It mainly kills the eggs that are not seen. Read the directions carefully not to be used in high temperatures.
dormant oil A horticultural oil applied during the dormant season to control insect pests and diseases.
Dormant oil spraying should be done on a clear day when there is little or no breeze. The ideal temperature for application is between 40° and 70° F., preferably temperatures should remain over 50° F.
Apply dormant oil sprays to help control scale insects and other pests in the garden. These sprays should only be applied when the temperatures remain below freezing for 24 hours.
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In the past, horticultural oils were heavier and used only when plants were not in their growing season, so they were called dormant oils.
dormant oil or an ovicide) can be applied early in the growing season. Second, pest mite numbers can be monitored and miticides applied if densities exceed threshold levels.
The first oils to be used horticulturally were the "dormant oils," which could only be used safely on plants in a dormant state.
When the tree has no leaves and before the buds start to open in spring, spray with dormant oil, which contains lime sulfur, to kill overwintering insects and fungal diseases. Ideally apply two or three times.
Applications of dormant oil on over-wintering females hiding in bud scales or bark crevasses can help. Control with pesticides is challenging because the problem is not well studied.
HORTICULTURAL OIL: This includes both a dormant oil and a summer oil - used to smother eggs and developing insects on trees and ornamentals. The heavier oils are used in the late winter or very early spring, making sure the temperatures are over 40?
Prune fruit trees and apply a dormant oil spray before the buds swell.
Don't prune dead wood off roses and woody perennials too soon.
Each spring, before buds open, apply a dormant oil fruit tree spray. This will kill a variety of insects. Apply a fruit tree spray frequently during the season, if you have problems with insects or disease.
Management strategies: Treat overwintering eggs with a dormant oil spray to prevent hatching. Use a plant-derived oil for a more environmentally friendly option. As many as 1,000 eggs can be clustered in a single beige or yellow hairy egg mass.
Even organic gardeners often need sprayers for dormant oils or dusters for botanical insecticides. There is a wide range of equipment to choose from - from cans of insecticides with sprinkler tops to motorized knapsack sprayers.
1. Mix 1 TBsp each of baking soda and horticultural oil (dormant oil/vegetable oil) or a few drops of liquid soap to 1 gallon of water. Spray weekly making a new mix each time. It will not elliminate the disease but help control it.
Now is the time to be on the alert for pests on your outdoor trees and shrubs. Dormant oils smother scale insects, mites, and the eggs of other sucking insects. Spray the oil when temperature is over 40 degrees F.
Dormant oil spray, Bordeaux mixture and other natural products are relatively nontoxic to beneficial insects and to humans when used judiciously and according to the manufacturer’s instructions.
Spray infested plants with dormant oil applied in the winter as directed by the label. In damp areas, euonymus can contract powdery mildew, a disfiguring fungal disease that deposits white, powdery patches on leaves.
Then (make sure that no green leaves are beginning to emerge) you can spray with a dormant oil to help get rid of any disease that may have stayed on your roses throughout the winter.
mr222 Said, ...
Usually including, or composed only o, a dormant oil, a dormant spary is a very effective way to kill overwintering insects and disease organisms and reduce the necessity for multiple sprays during the growing season.
The highly refined oils are often called summer oil, and can be used while the plant is growing; heavier oils are called dormant oil and are applied to deciduous plants while dormant.
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Rust causes rust-colored spots on leaf undersides and is most common during periods of warm days and cool nights. As for black spot, remove winter prunings and spray dormant oil combined with lime sulfur.
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 See also: Dormant, Plant, Insect, Water, Growing
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