You only need to spray dormant oil if you have some kind of problem like scale or spider mites. Some of these problems are more likely in a long season area like central TX or CA than in CO. I've grown fruit in west TX for 34 yrs and have never seen the need for dormant oil. I've never had scale. Only had spider mites when I sprayed the wrong codling moth control, Sevin killed the mite predators and caused an outbreak. Chances are high you don't need dormant oil in CO. If you have a problem down the line that dormant oil might help, then spray. The Fruitnut

I am pretty new with the gardening and I have a Fuyu and an Izu planted this spring. The Fuyu started to leaf out about a month ago but all of its few leaves dried out completely after a few days. The Izu has been a bare stick with not even a single bud getting any bigger. I guess the threshold for the number of heat units passed a long time ago here in NC, where we have had 90+ degrees pretty much every day for the last couple of months. Both trees still have green tissue under the bark, and *both* have just started to leaf out *from the rootstock*. I read that all of those leaves should be removed. Is there any other recommendation anyone can give? What could happen with the Fuyu that it has lost all the new leaves and is there still any hope in it? My other new trees seem to feel happy with the same watering schedule etc.

Actually I don't think anyone sells "dormant oil" anymore, it used to be that heavier oils were sold for dormant spraying only but these days all the oil sprays can be used in all seasons. Volck oil for example can be sprayed year-round. So get any good horticultural oil. I find that for aphids I need to spray at around pink with summer oil, the dormant spray alone does not do it. Even with that I get occasional outbreaks which I need to hit with summer oil. If I see just a few bad tips I simply prune them off. Scott

Fire duck~ A few of my trees still look horrible. We did not get enough chill hours here this year....somewhere around 83 for me. Not a good fruit year. Eva's pride is the ONLY tree that set normally..