(I'm sorry that I'm a little late in getting this out - apple trees are beginning to come out of dormancy - but file this away for future reference)
There are likely many of us who maintain a couple of apple trees (or keep hives at orchards) and are weary of spraying because of our bees. Dormant oil spray is used kill overwintering insects or insect eggs. It is meant to be sprayed at 2 week intervals when the tree is DORMANT (before buds form/open) (I also spray around the base of the tree and the ground surrounding)
The recipes for homemade dormant oil spray I've come across must have been written for an ORCHARD! Here's a scaled down version to treat 3 or 4 trees.
2 Cups of Mineral Oil
2 oz of Oil Based Soap (granular)
1 Cup Water
Boil all of these together and mix well. Further dilute: 1 part to 20 parts water and use immediately (cooled of course). ingredients separate quickly.
Mineral oil can be found at Walmart/Fleet Farm (around the pharmacy/health area). Oil Based Soap is like "Ivory Snow" - though I couldn't find it in a granular form.....I found something similar called "ECOS" in the natural foods section of Festival Foods.
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