I live in Vancouver, BC. I have a plum tree in the backyard. We've sprayed with dormant spray yearly. Our neighbour just built a lane house at the rear of their house. It's maybe 3-4 feet away from our plum tree. They asked us not to spray with dormant spray anymore because of the smell. And I am afraid of over spray hitting their lane house. Is there an alternative to dormant spray that does not require spraying and does not have an odour? Thanks.
I'm not sure if plums benefit from dormant spray. I've been growing a plum tree with 4 varieties grafted on it for about 35 years and have never applied a dormant spray. Two European varieties have been productive during all of those years, and two Japanese varieties have produced poorly because they are not suited to the Burnaby climate. Dormant spray wouldn't have made any difference.
Interesting. I do have an observation. We used to get tent caterpillars in this tree before we started spraying. Since we started with the dormant spray, we have not had any. Knock on wood. Maybe a coincidence. I don't know.
Since tent caterpillars overwinter in eggs that are attached to tree twigs, it is quite possible that dormant spray will prevent an infestation the following summer. However, I've found that they are easy to eliminate, either by removal of the tent when it's small or spraying a small area with insecticide. This requires regular inspection of the tree to discover them while the colony is small.
I agree with vitog. Removing the tent is easy, for sure much easier that than spraying the whole tree.
Is there any preventive measure that can be taken? I saw this tree guard tape (double sided tape) in the local garden center. Has anyone used it? How well does it work? Thanks!
