Dormant Oil Treatment
Unwelcome insects can cause considerable damage to your landscape. Of all of your plants, trees and shrubs are the costliest and the most prominent. Oftentimes, you will not know that there is an insect problem until you catch them in the act of destroying your plants. Unfortunately, by this time they may have already done considerable damage.
A dormant oil treatment is one way to combat insects before they break into full-on feeding mode. Insects like to spend the winter inside your trees where they can lay low, and lay eggs, sheltered from the elements. In the spring, they will emerge hungry and in greater numbers.
Dormant oils are specialized oils that are made to coat the bark of trees and shrubs before insects have emerged. This oil cuts off the insects’ necessary oxygen – killing adult insects as well as their eggs and larvae. Harmful insects are destroyed before you even see them!
For the best result, this treatment should be done after the winter freeze has thawed but before buds have bloomed, while the plant is still in its dormant phase. You have a lot of time and energy invested in your trees and shrubs – stopping insects before they become a problem will maintain their longevity!
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