Dormant oil

[lookbettertomorow]

4 years ago hardly knew the difference between a pear and a plum. Since then I'm hooked on fruit trees, all self taught thanks to YouTube Google etc. so I'm a right know it all now. My garden isn't large at 40'X40' with a bit on the front yet I have 20 fruit trees, 4 patio in pots. All are either Fan or Espalier or somewhere in between. I have even grafted,my best is the pic, Gala, Braeburn, Egermount Russet and Johnnagold all on one though the top one is not very good.
That's me.

Have looked into Dormant Oil and ask do you use it? if so which oil? most info/use appears to be from America. Called dormant because of the time it is applied.
Neem, Horticultural(I gather this is mineral but highly refined so can use all year round without damage), Veg, Olive, Duckhams? (joke) Found an Ebay seller near me who sells Neem oil (for the ladies)at £7 for 500ml if I pick it up, worth it?

Is it worth doing? my local GC sells Acme tree wash (oil, just says on tin harmless oil) so I assume folk must buy it. Think it was about £7 or £8, but for unknown harmless oil.
While on subject may as well ask if you use tree grease bands? will ordinary grease do? obviously not direct on the trunk, I have loads.
So please do tell your approach? I have read that if you are serious about growing fruit you need a serious regime be it locally sourced, line caught organic this and that. or otherwise. I had aphids this summer and tried Veg oil with soap, it worked but only if I did it everyday

[lookbettertomorow]

Forgot to add, I have acquired some Bordeaux Mix mainly for my Patio Peach, stop it getting Peach leaf curl. Have read it's good for all fruit trees apart from maybe Apricot,why? Dormant oil now then Bordeaux mix in new year? worry worry stress stress

[veggiechicken]

I have lots of fruit trees. I let them get on with it with interference from me!
Here's an earlier thread - there must be more on here too.
http://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gra...ray_44231.html

[lookbettertomorow]

Thank you, I did search the subject before posting but didn't use those words, every other words there are but not those. Mmmm not much to be gleaned

[Losos]

Neem, Horticultural Veg, Olive, Duckhams? (joke) Found an Ebay seller near me who sells Neem oil (for the ladies)at £7 for 500ml if I pick it up, worth it?

Is it worth doing? ..............may as well ask if you use tree grease bands? will ordinary grease do? obviously not direct on the trunk, I have loads.

When in my twenties and a mad keen motor sport enthusiast I had a Mini Cooper 1275cc (Old style obviously) and in those days Duckhams was the oil favoured by all the rally crowd

I use tree grease bands and IMO they do work. Can't see why ordinary grease to 'freshen up' the band would not work either. Even better ('tho a tad pricey) are those pherome traps which you hang in the tree and they attract the pests into the little house thingy and get stuck on the floor. They work well but like I said they cost a bit.

Never heard of Neem oil but if it's a ladies thing there's no reason why I should have !

[veggiechicken]

Threads about Grease bands - there are more!
http://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gra...ase_78082.html

http://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gra...ase_68043.html

And another about winter wash http://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gra...ion_76244.html

[Bill HH]

It is my understanding that Bordeaux mix is now a banned from sale substance, but if you have it i think its ok to use it. Neem oil is more an american thing and harder to obtain here although it is supposed to be very good.

[hamamelis]

Neem oil's hard to obtain? Not round here it ain't! I know of at least 3 shops within a 5 minute walk that sell it.

If you have any Indian shops locally, they often sell it- it's not so much a "ladies" thing as a traditional Indian skin treatment, though it is sometimes added to moisturisers in the UK.

[lookbettertomorow]

I tried the local Asian shop, they sell Neem but it is powder, scrunched up leaves. So not really neem enough ��

[BUFFS]

as for grease bands, I use 4ins duct tape, folded and then wrapped around my peach and apricot tree trunks and then some high temp motor oil put all round on the tape and for the last 3yrs it has worked fine, even in the back greenhouse's summer temps, too idle to drive to the town to buy grease bands..

[Penellype]

I'm not normally one for sprays etc, preferring to let natural predators do their job. However this year I had a bad infestation of aphids on my apple tree, and the ladybirds and hoverflies couldn't get to them because they were being farmed and protected by ants. I'd bought an "organic" (whatever that means) oil based spray called SMC to deal with spder mites in the greenhouse, and I tried it on the apple foliage. It was quite tricky to get at all of the aphids and I missed some that were inside curled parts of the leaves, but the ones I did hit died and the infestation didn't reappear. The idea is that the oil coats the insects bodies and they can't breathe. I believe Neem oil works in the same way.

As I say, I am not a fan of spraying unless absolutely necessary, so next year I will try a grease band which should stop the ants from climbing the tree trunk and solve the problem.

[lookbettertomorow]

I slapped some tractor grease straight onto the bark of all my little trees, to create a messy 3 inch band. Already regretting it and wish Bush? had posted earlier because I have some gaffer tape, never thought of that.

My tiny patio peach, which I have looked at almost every 4 hours for the last 10 months since I bought it bare root, it has developed a small ooze of resin, canker? It has done this since applying Bordeaux mix

[Guest]

I am on a steep learning curve where fruit is concerned as it was only around a year ago I asked about a tree I umm-ed and arr-ed over, anyway the long and the short of it. I no longer use grease bands as they caused damage to my trees creating damp then causing other problems. I try to avoid chemicals (organic or otherwise) however there has been call for it with scale bugs on gooseberries, woolley aphid on a couple of young grafted trees and recently some patio fruit. I did look at neem but struggled to find dilution rates and just to make it harder you can get various concentrations. In the end I opted for bug clear which I think is veg oil based but so far it seems to be doing its job.