Keepitlow: What's the objective here? Are you trying to use neem as a dormant oil spray? That would be a pretty expensive, as well as ineffective way to obtain dormant protection, since neem is a very light, thin oil. If you want to dormant spray trees, use a paraffin based oil spray of the traditional type. And what fruit tree are we talking about here? Apples can benefit from dormant oils (aphids, mites, scale insects etc.), and pears (pear psylla), but stone fruit often need protection against leaf curl and/or bacterial diseases. So please tell us how you are using your neem oil, and what you really want to achieve. I used pure, cold-pressed neem oil on my pome and stone fruits as a growing season spray for two consecutive years some time ago. Results were dismal. And this stuff is expensive. As far as I could tell, using neem oil delivered the same results as not using neem oil, which is to say it had no apparent beneficial effects whatsoever. I reached the conclusion that neem oil is more about marketing than insect or disease control. Specialized "organic" pest control firms will sell you just about anything if you will send them the money. That's what it's really about. Don Yellman, Great Falls, VA

That's interesting, malcolm. I read a few pesticide labels and articles and they all specified that oil and copper applications should not be used on citrus. WAIT! I was confusing sulfur with copper, for cryin' out loud! I just took a look at my research history. Plain as day....I noodled around looking up problems with sulfur and horticultural oil. So sorry for the error, and thanks to Malcolm for clearing this up for us.

i never spray my citrus... they suffer some foliar issues, but nothing terrible. personally, if i were you, i wouldn't worry about it.

Hi, Al, thanks for stopping by, I'm still very much a newbie when it comes to my container Meyers. I got them in March, and by the time July arrived and I could take them out and re-pot them, they had already survived a spider mite attack indoors. Then I repotted them in 511 (your recipe, thank you), and realized that I had an advanced case of root rot, but this is another story, lol. Later this summer, while on the deck, they had a (thankfully) brief episode with scales. I got rid of the scales with a Garden Safe Insecticidal soap/spray. As you can see, we've been busy :P) If it wasn't for Mikerno, Barb, and Steve from the Citrus board, my trees would be long dead by now. I know nothing will replace being vigilant and checking up my trees regularly for pests, but basically mites and scales are what I've battled with so far. Being that the trees will be inside and living in my dining room for the winter, I am given to understand that it makes them prime target victim for spider mites. I'm not sure if scales are an issue indoors. I also read somewhere (I think from one of Mikerno's posts) that if you add it to your water it also gets rid of gnats and fungi. Basically, from where I'm standing on top of Newbie hill, Neem oil looks like the panacea of indoor container gardening. I've tried to do my research as well as I could, and all fingers seemed to point towards a good spray of Neem oil right before you take them in, both as a preemptive measure and to kill possible critters brought inside with the trees. I'm still trying to figure out how much of it I'm supposed to add to my watering once a month (the Neem oil once a month, not the watering). I'm also still trying to figure if and out how often you have to re-apply the Neem oil throughout the winter as a precaution, and if it replaces any preemptive measures taken with insecticidal soap spray. I've also read your reply to this post about using it as a pesticide, and it was really informative, thank you. As you can tell, there is still a lot of figuring out on my end... But hey, I'm willing and trying to learn, so there is hope for my trees, yet. Any imput is helpful, any advice is appreciated, so in advance thank you, . Atheen