Q: When is it too late to use a dormant oil spray? I have a couple of apple trees. Can I use this dormant oil spray on other trees like my maples and my evergreens? If I mix up too much, I want to use ...

[Celebrating seasonal holidays usually pulls us away from routine garden maintenance, often happily so, but as it happens winter holidays happen to coincide with a spray schedule for dormant fruit and ...

The chill in the air reminds gardeners that it’s time to start winter chores. Spraying of dormant oils on deciduous fruit and nut trees, roses and other ornamentals can diminish the incidence of ...

If you have a fruit tree, you know that gardeners are not the only ones who enjoy the bounty of the harvest. There are many pests — such as scales, aphids and mites — that feast on the tender plant ...

DEAR NEIL: What kind of spray should I use on my fruit trees during the dormant season, and what should I use after they bud? Dear Reader: Apply a dormant (“horticultural”) oil spray to them before ...

In order for the application to be effective, it must be made on a warm day in late winter. Freezing temperatures must not be in the forecast for 24 hours. After that period, freezing temperatures do ...

Maybe gardeners aren’t busy in Minnesota or Iowa during the winter, but for gardeners living in the Mojave Desert, it is probably our busiest time of year. I’m asked about spraying dormant oils on ...

After a few years of watching and waiting for a peach tree I planted to bear fruit, it finally did this year. Unfortunately, it was unable to produce during those first few years because of peach leaf ...

Several readers have asked about the timing of dormant oil. This traditional technique involves spraying dormant fruit trees with horticultural oil to smother persistent pests, such as aphids and ...

It's time to start working on managing pests in your fruit and landscape trees this year. Springtime is starting, even if it is delayed a bit from the normal timing. Given the huge differences in ...

CORVALLIS, Ore. – From newly minted gardeners to avid urban farmers, everyone with a patch of land wants to grow an apple tree. Other fruits – pears, cherries, figs, plums – are desirable, too, but ...