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.

In article , "lbbs"
wrote:

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

lbbs said:

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.

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.
--
Pat in Plymouth MI

Any technology distinguishable from magic is insufficiently advanced.
(attributed to Don Marti)

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 -- where it definately gets over that 90o mark

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"lbbs" wrote in message
...
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.