Hobby, I have sprayed at night/evening and have had no issues with the residue during the next day (they've been almost all sunny lately here), so I would not worry about it too much. I stressed about it the first time and kept watching ready to move them to shade, but they were fine.

Hobby, it is an oil, so I would think that it would stain the concrete.

Thanks all, sounds like I better get cracking then!

I bought a combo pack of hort oil and lime, in 2 separate bottles that are meant to be combined and applied at once. Any idea if I should skip the lime and just go with oil? The box says it is a spring treatment.

Skip - Silica

by lime I presume it's lime sulphur . skip it that combos mostly for fruit trees b4 it breaks dormancy in spring.

I usually spray in the eve with different concoctions- neem + rosemary oil + soap , neem + protekt , neem + soap + isopropyl alcohol or just soap.

my window does get stained during winter n I have to clean up with some intense windex cleaning .

Thanks guys yes that makes sense dev I have heard about those spring fruit tree treatments. Good to know about the staining I will make sure I move my trees off the driveway.

Rosemary oil hey? I bet that smells good! Are you using an essential oil or something special for a garden application?

I just use the essential oil nothing special . even the neem I got it from this cosmetics raw materials supplier, these guys r very reasonably priced and have a wide variety .

https://www.newdirectionsaromatics.ca

That is so funny! I was just on their website yesterday because I want to get some evening primrose oil from them! But then I saw something about buying in quantity and meant to go back when I had more time. Great, if you had a god experience then I will go for it.

Yeah I want to step up my game by doing combo oil treatments too, not just sticking with neem. Which I still like the best. Thanks dev!

u r welcome .n ya they have a min $100 order. but I order maybe once or twice a year ,stock up on different essential oils , soap n lotion bases n other raw materials plus I pickup so no shipping charges.

btw they have pure castile soap which I use as plant soap spray n comes out much cheaper .

Great I can do $100, I use a lot of oils myself. Ooh I'll look now there are a few things I wanted to check out :).

Frankly, I prefer horticultural oil to neem because it distributes better throught the water and sprays on evenly for that reason. What I have done on occasion is mixed a 1/2 1/2 neem, HO combination. Like Silica said, I spray at dusk and have not had issues the next day even if it is hot and sunny.

Thanks Laura! Yes I thought of you re: the hort oil as I have never actually tried it, I thought you had mentioned the oil vs neem before. The neem is a pain isn't it? The warm water, the soap, and it usually gunks up the holes in my watering can as well.

The neem is probably more effective though; both the HO and the neem work to physically smother the pests, but the neem also works by confusing the sucking insects feeding triggers so they forget to eat and starve. Agree with you that a combo of both will be ideal :).

The other issue is that I have a huge pull along sprayer but there is a crack in the trigger handle. Need to work on that tonight so I can actually use it.

Even though my citrus have been safe from the frost we still have tons of veg in the ground so we are still covering and uncovering everything daily. I'm kind of happy the main garden season is winding down. We are tired! So I have been lazy on my treatments... but it's really crunch time now!

The 'Rosemary Oil' works like a charm on Spider Mites! Never had to use it with other pests since. Thank God I don't have any when they come inside...) Since I have been spraying regularly with Fish Emuslion, the cold pressed one from 'Neptune's Harvest' I don't deal with sucking pests anymore...

Spider mites are so nasty Mike- ugh! I have only had them one time but they are extremely gross. Something about webs and invisible bugs just makes my skin crawl... blech!

Most of the scale I have been scratching off seems dead... I have been seeing tons of ladybugs still out so I hope they have been sucking the scale dry.

You know what they say, an ounce of prevention...

Oh Hobby....You should of see two winters ago!! I took sick for a week where my HUGE three feet tall Gardenia resided in a huge window which was amazing..Well, it so happens that that summer I broke my heel falling off a ladder doing roofing and I could not spray my plants like I would of with the F.E... I had no friends willing to offer besides no longer my friends..

Well, during the time of just that one week I was sick, I came back to work to be greeted with a huge gardenia that looked like it was sprayed with Halloween cob web which look like fog from a distance...Little did I expect to see those dam critter, mites having a huge party crawling over the place!

Do you know that I had no choice but to lift that thing over my head to the dumpster in which all those mites just fell all over me! It was disgusting..I had to strip naked when I got home outside in 30 degree weather and take a shower just to make sure I did not carry just one of those things into my house..I'm sure that one would of devastated my collection..I always had a fear of mites. always...That is why I am so careful to avoid them! I hate them..I watch all my plants all winter long looking for just one..I can usually tell when I have them, I am that good and know them that well..I can tell the damage a mile away....My 'Rosemary' Oil will always be in hand if I ever have any again.....They will never get a hold of my trees, ever...

That is also the reason whey I stick them on my cold porch..No pest survives or forages in temps that cool, especially after spraying the leaves with mist, cool and a fan going...Not one bug ever..I would rather sacrifice extensive growth than deal with bugs..I almost threw away every plant I owned because It too much work to keep up..The spraying inside can be such a pain...My gardenia plants, spider mite magnets get sprayed every week no matter what, because they are kept warm inside or in my greenhouse..Don't need then attracting any for sure)

Wow, you opened a can of worms with me, or should I say MITES..lol

Mike, that is awful...although your neighbors may have gotten quite a laugh at your expense ;-). So how much rosemary oil do you use? I have some, but have no idea what concentration I should use. I can add it to my HO, neem concoction....

Laura, that day actually traumatized me..lol It really did...Once you get those suckers, they are so hard to completely eliminate. It took me a few years although at that time I had not heard of Rosemary Oil...I wish I had..

Do you have the 'pure' oil extract from a health store?

I use 20 drops per quart of spray with a bit of an emulsifier...yes, you can add it and boy does it smell great! Better than the straight Neem smell which I can't stand. I will use less than half the Neem I normally would to be replaced by the drops of the Rosemarie Oil..

Wow Mike, I think I would have done the same!! I have long hair and to think of those nasties on my head makes me gag!

I had them in my old greenhouse and the only way to get rid of them was to bag and dispose of all the plant material, throughly wash the greenhouse out with insecticidal spray and then leave the greenhouse empty for several months.... not fun!!

Hey Mike! Thanks! I'm sorry you were traumatized....I was traumatized when I was a kid in Miami...I went to put on a shoe barefoot...felt something moving....there was a huge palmetto bug (monstrous cockroach) in it! I understand. I've never forgotten it. I do have pure rosemary oil and will do a treatment with HO before bringing the trees in....it should be a while yet for me...I hope.

Yikes Laura, that will stick with you for sure!