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Vitax 500ml Winter Tree Wash

£9.9£99Clearance
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Keep trees well watered but do not overwater. Mulch well around fruit trees with organic matter to protect soil and retain moisture and nutrients. But keep mulch away from the trunk to prevent rotting. Made from a blend of natural plant and fish oils, this winter tree wash is formulated to remove debris and dirt from trees to help protect against overwintering pests. Winter is also the time to replace rotten stakes, broken supporting wires on which wall-trained fruits are growing, and frayed tree ties. Stems and trunks swell as they grow, so existing tree ties may need loosening to prevent them digging into the bark or rubbing it and opening the door to fungal infection. A winter wash is something I always make a point of doing during the colder months. Here, I’ll take you through a step-by-step guide on how to winter wash trees, as well as some tips for managing different types of trees. How do I winter wash my trees? Some aphids, for example woolly aphid, and brown peach aphid, do not have a summer host and instead remain on fruit trees throughout the year.

Gooseberry aphid: Summer host =willow herbs ( Epilobium spp.). Leaves fruitinMay-June. Can remain on gooseberry throughout summerPractice good garden hygiene and dispose of diseased material. Don’t add foliage or branches with fungal diseases to your compost heap. To winter wash fruit trees, you should first remove any dead or diseased branches, then use a solution of water and horticultural oil such as Vitax winter wash or Jeyes fluid to spray the entire tree, including the trunk and branches. The solution should be applied when temperatures are above freezing and the tree is dormant. This will help to control pests and diseases that may be overwintering on the tree. It is also recommended to prune the tree properly and make sure the soil is well drained and mulched to protect the tree from cold temperatures. Another thing to bear in mind is that even a thorough washing will not necessarily be 100% effective. Such a solution is not a viable alternative to good long term garden maintenance. Alternatives to Winter Washing Your Fruit Trees Apply this on a cool calm day November to February when there're no leaves on the trees. This will clear the tree up ready for the spring. Winter wash is an application that kills the egg status of many important pests such as various types of aphids, mites, weevils and moths. It also helps control the spores of fungal diseases.

Winter tree wash used to be simply Bordeaux mixture, based on copper sulphate and slaked lime. This was first used on vines initially to discourage pilferers. Its fungicidal and bactericidal properties were discovered by chance. For many years, it was used on fruit trees. The copper in the mixture combated both fungal diseases and the pests as listed above. Bordeaux mixture was ideal as a winter fungicide because it adhered to trees even in rainy weather. It could even be made by farmers themselves, using 10 pounds of copper sulphate, 10 pounds of dry hydrated lime, and 100 gallons of water (or 3.5 tablespoons of copper sulphate, 10 tablespoons of dry hydrated lime, and 1 gallon of water). The larvae of lacewings, ladybirds and hoverflies are voracious pest-munchers. Weather permitting, the period between autumn and spring is a good time to establish more nectar-rich perennial flowers to attract these and other pest predators. Try bugle ( Ajuga reptans), asters, daisies or lavender for starters. Make your garden a haven for wildlife, and ladybirds and other predators will help to control pests There are a number of jobs that you should do over winter when it comes to fruit trees. The dormant winter phase is the time to plant new fruit trees. It is also the time to prune a number of different species. Apples, for example, should be pruned over the winter months. Winter washing your fruit trees is another job you might want to consider. But is it really the best solution? Read on to find out more. What is Winter Washing?

3. Expose Overwintering Insect Pests

So there's plenty to be getting on with as winter bites. No excuses for sitting idle! As if you needed encouragement – an afternoon spent working on your fruit trees is satisfying to the core. The promise of next year's fruits should soften the chill and warm the spirit. Some pests will overwinter in leaf litter or in the soil around your fruit trees so they can be near to their food source when spring comes around. Good garden hygiene is the answer. Rake up all fallen leaves and compost them away from your trees to foil pests such as apple blossom weevil, which can destroy flowers and ruin your fruit crop. Spray the tree: Use the sprayer to apply the solution to the entire tree, including the trunk and branches. Make sure to cover all surfaces of the tree, including the top and bottom of the leaves. Organic gardeners can protect trees and bushes with Winter Tree Wash – a completely natural organic product – which gives plants a good clean ready for the new season. So what you’ll want to, is you want to spray the whole tree, so everything all the way up, but just pay particular attention to the little nooks and crannies in here. So this is where the eggs and all the other bugs will be hiding out. So just start at the bottom and work your way up giving it a good coverage.

Although this method is not fully organic as it’s a winter operation it will not affect any bees plus will reduce the need to treat the apple trees in the spring and summer. Fruit aphid populations are often not noticed until the plants are showing obvious signs of damage in the spring and early summer. In some cases by this time the damage is done and the aphids may have already left for their summer hosts or been consumed by predators making control measures redundant and undesirable Encourage aphid predators in the garden, such as ladybirds, ground beetles, hoverflies, parasitoid wasps and earwigs. Be aware that in spring aphid populations often build up before natural enemies are active in sufficient numbers and then give good control As leaves tumble to reveal bare branches, nights become longer and frosts fiercer, it can be tempting to believe that pests are no longer on the prowl. But late autumn and early winter is a crucial time of year for preventative pest control on fruit trees. Remember – prevention is always better than cure. Maintain your garden well using good organic gardening techniques and extreme pest management solutions should not be necessary.Fruit Tree Grease is an easy-to-use brush-on, monitoring trap. Preventing wingless female moths from climbing fruit trees and laying eggs in tree bark crevices, it can be applied now and re-applied late winter to ensure fruit trees enter spring healthy and free of eggs. Normally an apple tree will have two types of growth. The first being the fruiting buds stems with short stubby nodes or buds about 5mm to 10mm long with rings around the base, these are the fruiting buds and these stems need leaving unless you are reshaping the apple tree because these buds are next crop of flowers and fruit. Using a tree guard prevents stripping of the bark. Plastic tree guards are not, in my opinion, the best choice; I have found that they can harbour pests and they tend to keep the bark damp, which encourages disease. I prefer to make a protective tube of wire mesh, as it allows free flow of air, is less hospitable to insect pests and is impossible for rodents to gnaw through. If your trees are surrounded by soil rather than grass, rake around them to expose overwintering pupae of bugs such as sawfly to frost and birds. 4. Prevent Ring-barking by Rabbits and Other Rodents Where possible tolerate populations of aphids, they form an important part ofmany food chains and can be part of a healthy garden ecosystem

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