Horticultural Narrow Range 415 oil?

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535678

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I've got problems in the garden with mites attacking the avocado tree. Can't get rid of them any other way, so my last option is a miticide called Abamectin. The recommendations from UC Davis say the following:

Quote:
COMMENTS: Use with 1-2% narrow range (415) oil in a minimum of 50 gal water/acre for aerial applications and 100 gal water/acre for ground applications. On large trees aerial applications may require larger volumes of water to achieve desired efficacy. Control may last 3 or more weeks. Only use in an alkaline or slightly acidic solution. Do not tank mix with nutrients. To avoid promoting pesticide resistance, do not make more than one application of any abamectin product per year in each grove.


1. Where do you get NR 415 oil?
2. How much do you use in a 1 or 2-gallon sprayer?
 
If you want to stay bio just use some water and liquid soap or a tobacco infusion...both work like a charm.
 
I would have to agree with Andy636 if you want to stay bio and organic. The key is to keep spraying every couple of days to begin with and spray "with extreme prejudice." One cup soap to one gallon of water. "Neem" oil is another option you might could try. Keep in mind however, these types of treatments do not kill the bug, but merely try to run them off, (they don't like the taste and move away).

You can also make a "tea" with a couple of cigarettes boiled in water, then strained and mixed with water and sprayed on plants. The tobacco spray will kill the bugs, but will also harm any plants nearby that are members of the nightshade family, (tomatoes, for example).

If you truly want to go chemical, try some malathion. Once again, the tree has to be sprayed liberally, both tops and bottoms of leaves as the little critters you're trying to kill don't want to die and will hide in every nook and cranny they can find. You can pick this up at any Lowes or Home Depot in the garden section. Follow directions on label and when you're done, take a good bath and wash your clothes immediately.

You can also use dormant oil on your trees, (this is what commercial growers use). Once again, you should be able to pick up a small bottle at your local Lowes or Home Depot.

The key in all of these is to work up a program of spraying as usually it's not a one time shot, especially if you have a bad infestation. Talk with your local county agent and he or she will be able to give you some good guidelines to follow for your area. Best of luck
smile.gif
 
This is from an article I found on the net. While it applies to citrus trees, it will also work on your Avocado tree.

Effects on Pests

Horticultural oils kill insects that eat citrus trees and spread pests. According to the National Gardening Association, oil sprays work by smothering bugs, especially small mites and bug eggs. The Western Australian Department of Agriculture and Food recommends horticultural oils to kill citrus leafminers, weevils and scales.


Effects on Diseases

Horticultural oil also helps get rid of mildew and other plant fungi, according to the National Gardening Association and the University of Florida. Fungi do not grow as well in the presence of oils, and the oils also help prevent fungal and viral problems by killing the bugs that spread them.

Types

Different types of horticultural oils exist, but they all serve to reduce pests and diseases. According to the National Gardening Association, most horticultural oils come from refined crude oil. However, some oil sprays come from vegetable oil or neem oil. Dormant oil is a type of oil that works well on citrus trees during their dormant seasons.


Use

To use horticultural oil, spray it all over the leaves of the infected citrus tree. Make sure to thoroughly cover the leaves, especially in infected areas. Reapply the oil after a rainfall, because much of it will wash away.


Warning

Although some beneficial bugs, like lacewings and beetles, can fly away before horticultural oils kill them, gardeners should keep in mind that horticultural oils may kill beneficial bugs. The National Gardening Association warns farmers against using oil spray when they rely on beneficial mites, which can help keep away other pests on citrus trees.
 
This is a subject you will get conflicting advice, as there is a lot of profit in chemicals. Lots written to sell them and lots of sales pitches.

GreeCguy has it right. All you need is oil. White mineral oil o agricultural oil i s what it is called. I sell 20 drums or more a month. And I use it to instantly kill white flies, mites, etc., and a bunch of stuff. It instantly suffocates the the live ones, while also killing the eggs. Few sales people like to sell the agricultural oil as it is so cheap when compared to chemicals that their commissions are low.

If you do not have a tank with an agitator, you need an oil with an emulsifier. Depending on your water hardness, it can be as low as 3%, but most products are 7% or higher in emulsifier.

The concentrate depends on the robustness of the plants to be sprayed. For normal ornamental plants and spices, or citrus in season, 1/2% is sufficient. Do not spray grapes at any more than 1/2% as there leaves are too delicate. I use 1/2% all growing season on ornamentals, spices, and fruit trees. It is FDA and USDA approved, so you can eat the fruit any time.

In winter I up the dose to 1% and do three thorough spraying of the trunks and branches of the trees. This kills the eggs that might have been left, giving a season of worm free fruit.

Since it puts a thin protective layer on the leaves and branches, the fungus spores slide off instead of landing and growing. It eliminates yellow sigatoca in bananas, but black sigatoca needs an additional fungicide.

This is what is used to spray all the bananas in Central and South America that are exported to the US. Also the favorite for citrus.

In big fields or aircraft spraying, there are agitators, so the emulsifier is not needed.

Be sure to add the oil to the water so it will mix. Never add water to oil......... It will not mix.
 
So, If I got this right,you could use mineral oil from a drug store? A quart would dose 50 gallons at 1/2%. I'll shall pass this on to the spousal unit. She has the green thumb. I have the black thumb.
laugh.gif
 
Watching this thread - We are always looking for natural pest solutions.

Thanks to those who contributed!
 
Thanks for the suggestions guys but like I said previously, all of the other nicer natural methods have failed. This is a mite exclusive to extreme coastal Southern California and it feeds most often on our specific variety of Avocado tree.

The mites build dense webbing on the undersides of leaves to protect themselves (and their eggs) from natural predators, so that's a lost cause. I've tried neem oil with very, very limited success which jives with the controlled experiments by University of California researchers. Neem oil performed so badly in one test, they dropped it from the second round of testing. I don't know for sure but I suspect the neem oil has trouble penetrating the webbing.

I'm fed up trying to fight them organically. Failing to get them under control causes 100% defoliation by the end of the season and that affects NEXT YEAR'S yield as well. The tree has to grow a new set of leaves the following spring and that drastically reduces the number of fruit the tree is able to set.
 
Originally Posted By: tom slick
I'd call your local UC entension office for some help.

http://ucanr.edu/County_Offices/


I tried e-mailing them a few months ago.

As best I can tell, they're staffed by volunteer Master Gardeners and the response I got looked like the same information readily available with Google.
 
What county do you live in?

Have you tried contacting any of these guys?

Ricky Lara, Dept. of Entomology, University of California, Riverside, CA 92521, phone: (951) 827-4360, [email protected]

Mark Hoddle, Dept. of Entomology, University of California, Riverside, CA 92521, phone: (951) 827-4714, fax: (951) 827-3086, [email protected]

Ben Faber, Cooperative Extension, Ventura County, 669 County Square Drive, Ste. 100, Ventura, CA 93001, phone: (805) 645-1462, fax: (805) 645-1474, [email protected]

Gary Bender, UCCE Office, 5555 Overland Ave, Bldg 4, San Deigo, CA 92123, phone: (619) 694-2848, fax: (619) 694-2856, [email protected]

Joseph Morse, Dept. of Entomology, University of California, Riverside, CA 92521, phone: (951) 827-5814, fax: (951) 827-3086, [email protected]
 
I emailed one of the persons on that list two separate times back a few months ago with pictures of our mite problem.

No response either time.
 
Are there any local commercial growers you can talk to? I know in these parts with citrus, several times when I'm working at my parents farm, (which still has nine acres of citrus trees), people will stop by and ask about their yard trees and what they can do for certain problems. I'm always happy to help and share what I can as one of the problems with yard trees is that if left untreated, it poses a potential threat to commercial growers.

Another idea, if you have one or only a few trees, have you tried pulling the webbing away by hand and then spraying? I know it sounds labor intensive, but if you can destroy their protective home and then attack them, you have a good chance of eradicating them.

Yet one more idea is that when the trees do loose their leaves, start a program of aggressive spraying as soon as new leaves appear. Spray and keep spraying so the bugs don't have a chance to establish these webs on the new leaves. It might take a couple of seasons, but the key here is to stick with it and not give up. If you can create a hostile environment they will move on.
 
Yes, baby oil is the same stuff, but usually has perfume or lanolin added.

The Spray oil is basically a Group II pure oil with no additives and a 15 cSt viscosity.
 
Originally Posted By: widman
Yes, baby oil is the same stuff, but usually has perfume or lanolin added.

The Spray oil is basically a Group II pure oil with no additives and a 15 cSt viscosity.
Thank you for the info. I was thinking of USP mineral oil, I think it is used as laxative.
laugh.gif
 
Originally Posted By: andyd
Originally Posted By: widman
Yes, baby oil is the same stuff, but usually has perfume or lanolin added.

The Spray oil is basically a Group II pure oil with no additives and a 15 cSt viscosity.
Thank you for the info. I was thinking of USP mineral oil, I think it is used as laxative.
laugh.gif



So would regular USP Mineral Oil fit this description? I'm not familiar with its specs.
 
Originally Posted By: 535678
Originally Posted By: andyd
widman said:
Yes, baby oil is the same stuff, but usually has perfume or lanolin added.

The Spray oil is basically a Group II pure oil with no additives and a 15 cSt viscosity.
Thank you for the info. I was thinking of USP mineral oil, I think it is used as laxative.
laugh.gif



What about a vegetable oil like canola for example?
Click to expand...
 
Originally Posted By: 535678
I emailed one of the persons on that list two separate times back a few months ago with pictures of our mite problem.

No response either time.


When email fails, you need to pick up the phone. I'd never get anything done if I relied on email correspondence only.
 
Originally Posted By: tom slick
Originally Posted By: 535678
I emailed one of the persons on that list two separate times back a few months ago with pictures of our mite problem.

No response either time.


When email fails, you need to pick up the phone. I'd never get anything done if I relied on email correspondence only.


Realistically, I wouldn't expect them to offer me much anyway.

When dealing with Ph.D.'s in academia, I've found that you often get more ego and condescension than substance.
 
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