horticultural spray oil for aphids

Bonsai Nut

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Well... it's 98% mineral oil. Perhaps you can find mineral oil somewhere else at a cheaper price / better value? You can buy food grade mineral oil on Amazon for $22 per gallon, delivered. If you want to dilute in water you will need to add an emulsifier, but if you are using a spray bottle you can spray or wipe it on.

Personally, I use neem oil as my dormant oil. I don't have any experience with mineral oil.
 
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Bonsai Nut

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Wait a second... I am sorry I am going to restate what I just posted because I was commenting specifically on the product, not the use.

Mineral oil is a dormant oil. Because your trees are indoors under grow lights, you don't want to use a dormant oil (because your plants are growing, not dormant). I would recommend an organic pesticide like pyrethrins.
 

Rubberbandman

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Wait a second... I am sorry I am going to restate what I just posted because I was commenting specifically on the product, not the use.

Mineral oil is a dormant oil. Because your trees are indoors under grow lights, you don't want to use a dormant oil (because your plants are growing, not dormant). I would recommend an organic pesticide like pyrethrins.
I have already tried insecticides and the sticky aphids are immune to it!
Help!
other thoughts?
 

Bonsai Nut

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I have already tried insecticides and the sticky aphids are immune to it!

It would be a rare aphid that develops chemical immunity to insecticide. Pyrethrins has such a powerful knockdown effect that if you spray it on grass it will bring beetle grubs out of the soil. What insecticide did you try?
 

cbroad

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Horticultural oil is an all season spray (even says it on the label), so it's fine to use while the plant is in active growth. That is my main form of insecticide and it works great on all of my tropicals indoors, it just doesn't work on spider mites...
 

sparklemotion

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Is this suitable for battling aphids and other nasties that attack my tropicals every winter under the grow lights?

Are you sure that they are aphids? What kinds "other nasties" are you dealing with? And what kinds of insecticides, specifically, have you tried?

Which horticultural oil are you referring to? There are many different kinds...

The product in the OP advertises itself for both dormant and growing season use.
 

cbroad

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@Bonsai Nut
Bonide's All Seasons Horticultural & Dormant Spray Oil. My apologies, I thought we were talking just about the specific Bonide product.
 

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I have been reading up on horticultural oils for the last couple of hours out of curiosity. Seems like most "horticultural oils" are now highly refined and are considered safe for year-round use. So the term "dormant oil" does not now apparently refer to oils safe only for application during dormancy, but for ANY oil applied during dormancy. Unfortunately I used some horticultural oil last summer on my trees, thinking it would be safe, and though it had zero impact on most of my trees, it burned my Japanese maples and my quinces. So I assumed I was at fault for my application timing... not that the product was.

So I would only say "proceed with caution".

Here's a quote to remember:
Summer or All Season oils are a lighter version of dormant oil that could be applied to plants during the growing season. You still need to use caution when applying summer oil. Oil treated plants will burn in the hot sun and many plants can’t handle oil at all.
 
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Bonsai Nut

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@Bonsai Nut
Bonide's All Seasons Horticultural & Dormant Spray Oil. My apologies, I thought we were talking just about the specific Bonide product.

LOL I think we are talking in circles... or at least I am :) That's mineral oil. :) There are other petroleum oils, as well as vegetable oils like cottonseed, soybean, and neem oil. I happen to use neem oil during my trees' dormant season. I use pyrethrins and sulfur during active growing season.

So now that I have completely and totally confused myself and the OP, I should probably say that everything I just read about mineral oil suggests that it is safe for the purpose intended... and it is supposed to be able to kill aphids :) LOL!
 
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Hack Yeah!

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The neem oil I recently bought indicated it will kill aphids. Local professionals have recommended not using oils unless outdoor temperatures are below 80 f . Although the label has no indication of temperature requirements.
 

GGB

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my dormant oil (mineral based) says between 40 - 80 degrees. I think that's a standard... but maybe i'm wrong.
Also I've been using it specifically for mites, so now I'm just confused
 

sparklemotion

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Here's a quote to remember:
Summer or All Season oils are a lighter version of dormant oil that could be applied to plants during the growing season. You still need to use caution when applying summer oil. Oil treated plants will burn in the hot sun and many plants can’t handle oil at all.

Thanks for this! I was curious to learn more about the mechanism that causes the "burning", so I googled this quote and found this article from The Spruce, which I figured I'd share:

https://www.thespruce.com/what-is-horticultural-oil-1402736

I'm still not clear on the details of the burning -- I assume it has something to do with the oil blocking the stomata and preventing transpiration?
 

Vindeezy

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Is this suitable for battling aphids and other nasties that attack my tropicals every winter under the grow lights?
Thanks!
B
This is what I use You can probably find it on eBay like 16 bucks for a quart that will last you years.
 

Vindeezy

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I use it on all my trees including my tropicals and don’t have any insect problems.
 

sparklemotion

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this stuff right here does nothing to my sticky aphids....they actually breed faster !!

According to the manufacturer's website, Bayer Dual Action Rose & Flower Insect Killer (ready to use) has these as active ingredients: 0.0015% β-Cyfluthrin; 0.012% Imidacloprid

https://www.bayeradvanced.com/find-a-product/rose-flower-care/dual-action-rose-flower-insect-killer

Imidaclorprid should be effective on aphids in general (though I dont' know if that concentration is high enough to be expected to do the trick). I'm still stumped as to what exactly a "sticky aphid" is.
 
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