I have a bad case of aphids on my plum tree. Would it be bad for the tree
> if I spayed oil on the tree to kill them and then a day late, spray the tree
> with a water gun to wash off the oil. I tried insecticide soap, but did
> not help much.
Have you tried squirting the tree with the hose yet? Try it. It'll knock a lot of the aphids off. Then decide if you need to resort to other things.
Jan
It will be a bit risky even if you use an oil specifically formulated for spraying during the growing season, sprayed in the evening of a not-so-hot day. I'd wash it off the next morning, not wait a whole day. The oil only works on insects it covers, and has no residual effect.
Better you should use an oil spray next year early in the season, and figure out why your tree is so attractive to pests (overdosed with nitrogen fertilizer is one possibility, water stress another).
Regular blasts of water, followed by foliar sprays of seaweed might be a safer control.
I'm still spraying with Neem Oil every couple of weeks and haven't had any problems. The horticultural formulas available at Lowes (but not HD...at least not mine) is what I'm using...but I guess since the oil simply smothers the aphids, the type of oil probably isn't all that important.
I spray after the sun goes behind the other houses so there is no direct sunlight and the air has started cooling off but before it goes down and I can't see anymore.
First time I used it, 1,000's of aphids were dead dead dead when I checked the plant the next morning.
John Austin, Tex I have a bad case of aphids on my plum tree. Would it be bad for the tree
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