Wintertime is a great time to get a head start on protecting your trees from damaging insects. Winter application of dormant oils help suppress some of the most damaging insects in our landscape. Sucking insects, including aphids, scales, mealybugs, white flies, and spider mites can all be successfully treated in winter with dormant oils.
While these pests can be very difficult to control during the spring and summer months, these overwintering insects are vulnerable during the dormant season. Horticultural oils can be used as a safe and organic option for pest control while not damaging our friendly beneficial insects we want to protect. These oils are very effective as they smother the insects and cause the insects to die by asphyxiation.
Trees and plants that can benefit greatly from these treatments include camellias, live oaks, hollies, bay laurel, myrtle, euonymus, citrus, photinias and boxwood. Fruit trees, which can get hit hard year after year by pests, especially benefit from dormant oil applications.
In certain applications, copper or a fungicide can be added for additional protection against damaging fungal and bacterial diseases like fire blight, brown rot, leaf curl, powdery mildew, and shot hole. These diseases lie dormant on the tree, in cracks and crevasses, and old leaf debris. Winter treatments suppress and reduce the spread of these common but devastating diseases.
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