Dormant Oil

[journey11]

Between the high winds and constant rain we've had this spring, I never did get a good day to spray my fruit trees with dormant oil. Now they're starting to bud. Is it too late? I didn't know if this would risk stunting the buds...

 

[thistlebloom]

It might be cutting it close, and ordinarily I'd say you might be a tad late, but then I found this the other day when searching for some information for myself :

"The best time to apply dormant spray is when the buds
are swelling on the plant; just about ready to break open.
Insects eggs, just like plants, are dormant during the winter. Insect eggs, in their dormant stage, are very resistant
both to the cold and to chemicals. The closer the eggs are
to hatching, the easier they are to kill. Many insect eggs
may also be under some of the plant tissues surrounding
the buds. When the buds begin to swell, the tissues expand
and allow the oil to penetrate further into the plant."


It was at this site: http://www.jlgardencenter.com/uploads/handouts/DormantSpray.pdf


So by the looks of your buds maybe if you ran out and sprayed today it would be fine.
Hopefully somebody else can help out.

 

[hoodat]

The main factor with dormant oil is the temerature. If it's much over 65 it can fry the plants. Under that you may get a little tip burn on the new leaves but they'll recover and a bit of tip burn is better than the insect damage to fruit. If your flowers are already open remember that dormant oil will keep bees from polinating them. They avoid areas where they can smell oil.

 

[AmyRey]

What IS dormant oil? And what is it for?

 

[patandchickens]

I wouldn't do it myself, with the buds that far broken. I suppose you have to balance how much you expect to have serious problems with things the dormant oil addresses, versus the damage that it will do.

Pat