How Hort Oil Can Benefit Your Lawn and Keep Away Pests

Dec 26, 2012 | Uncategorized

Source

Hort oil can be beneficial to your trees and shrubs to control pests.  Many traditional pest control solutions can be harmful to plants.  Advantages of using oil are safety, effectiveness, and limited effects on insects that are beneficial to plants.

Hort oil is often used in the winter months to control mites, aphids, caterpillars, and scale insects that tend to make a home on plants during this time of year.  Although most commonly used in the winter, hort oil can also be used in the summer time to control a host of other insects and mites. Hort oil can also protect plants from diseases like powdery mildew and some aphid-transmitted viruses.

You should be aware that there is a small chance that it could harm certain plants, especially those in need of water.  Oils can stain surfaces of dark colored house plants.  As with any pest control solution, be sure to read instructions carefully and follow all directions.

Sensitive Plants:

• Black walnut
• Cryptomeria
• Douglas-fir
• Hickories
• Junipers and cedars
• Maples (particularly Japanese and red maple)
• Redbud
• Smoke tree
• Spruce (particularly dwarf Alberta spruce)

Source: http://www.ext.colostate.edu/pubs/insect/05569.html