a toothbrush and a capful of petrol

[Trent McKenzie]

I was wondering why my two oldest and most beloved river red gums were looking so down in the dumps having not really recovered from a drying out 18 months ago and hardly put on any growth this summer when i noticed something very sinister indeed, SCALE... Not the ordinary scale I have seen before, (2mm and brown) this was minute 0.1-0.2mm grey coloured the same as the bark, in fact I always thought it was the flaky texture of the bark I rushed to the shed to find some white oil, alas none...
Then I remembered something the guy at the nursery had once told me about treating scale, brush them off with some petrol, the active ingredient in white oil is petroleum oil. So I grabbed a capful of petrol and a toothbrush and scrubbed them off the effected areas (the entire 2 trees). I hope this wasn't a bad idea and will post an update if the trees suffer because of it.

[The Hacker]

Hi Trent,

Yep not sure about the petrol, but if you look at what happens to the big gum's when a bush fire go's through, sorry to say but it all most kill's everything but those big gum's do bud back very well & when I was just starting out in this thing called bonsai The Late Great Geoff Acland told us that if we lit a small fire & then just held the tree over it for amoment till the leave's went a little crispy not to much but just enough it would kill all them nasty's & all so help the tree

Regard's The Hacker

[Brian]

I wish you didn't do that. Unfortunately it may adversely affect the tree. I never heard of petrol being used to remove scale.

Are you sure it wasn't methylated spirt the nurseryman told you to use ?

[squizzy]

We used to use metho to remove scale in a rose nursery I worked for.

Squizz

[Pup]

I am with Brian there, methylated spirits work well with out the damage that petrol can cause. Hey Hacker I have been using a blow torch to good affect.

When I had borer problems I just heated up the trunk no more borers.


Cheers Pup

[Handy Mick]

petroleum jelly is vasoline, not petrol.

mick

[Trent McKenzie]

It's been a few days now and seems as though the petrol scrubbing on the bark has not effected the trees in any severe manner, in fact I'm very pleased to say they have more new budding now than they have in the past 12 months. They will be left to grow and gather energy until late spring when I plan a major brunch chop and restyling

[Craig]

Trent, i "read" an article just after you posted this topic, not sure if you've seen it but here it is ,

"QUOTE"
Abstract
The radial increment and crown status of mature Scots pine trees growing in polluted and unpolluted sites were compared. In 1996, as a result of some malfunction, unleaded petrol penetrated into the soil next to a plantation. Detailed geological and hydrological studies revealed the route of the spread of contamination and extent of the pollution. The trees growing in polluted sites revealed strong depletion of radial growth starting immediately after pollution. Such depletion lasted 2–3 years before the ring widths stabilised at a low level. After a few years the radial increment increased, and now do not differ from the increment of trees in the unpolluted sites. http://www.springerlink.com/content/e14330pp47042376/

[Trent McKenzie]

Thanks Craig,
Not something I will be doing again now I know Methylated Spirits will do the same trick but at least these little blighters are gone and the the trees are growing again

[chipper5]

You can also make your own white oil spray with ingredients found at home: I got this recipe from the Gardening Australia website...

Mix Together:

•2 cups of vegetable oil
•½ cup of dishwashing detergent

When you shake it, it goes a really milky colour and that's where it gets a name 'White Oil' and it will actually store safely for a couple of months.

To use it, add 2 tablespoons of the concentrate to a litre of water and it's ready to go. Hope this helps

http://www.abc.net.au/gardening/stories/s3165524.htm

Chipper5

[Mojo Moyogi]

You can also make your own white oil spray with ingredients found at home: I got this recipe from the Gardening Australia website...

Mix Together:

•2 cups of vegetable oil
•½ cup of dishwashing detergent

When you shake it, it goes a really milky colour and that's where it gets a name 'White Oil' and it will actually store safely for a couple of months.

To use it, add 2 tablespoons of the concentrate to a litre of water and it's ready to go. Hope this helps

http://www.abc.net.au/gardening/stories/s3165524.htm

Chipper5

Well that's all dandy chipper, but what about the people who are just aching to spray copious amouts of chemicals? Where does this "hocus-pocus" leave them, much less the struggling Monsantos, Bayers and Syngentas of this world?




Cheers,
Mojo

[Petra]

The only thing the vege oil does is stick to the tree.It really doesnt have a purpose.
As for the dishwash liquid, it kills them blighters and then they are easier to hose off.
I give the trees & cacti a spritz every now and then with wash liquid diluted in water.
Makes life easier for me.

[Roger]

Chipper
My understanding of the 'white oil' killing scale runs a bit like this.

The oil/water mixture is of a consistency (including surface tension) that it not only covers the plant and out layer of the 'scale', but will works its way under the scalely cap and covers the 'live' insect underneath. It covers it so well that it blocks its breathing pores and asphyxiates the poor blighters - that it mechanically kills the insect as distinct from using other means that attack the physiological processes of life of the insect.

The Gard. Mag. recipe uses both 'oil' and 'detergent'. The oil is to perform the same asphyxiation work as in the 'white oil'. The detergent is the allow the oil to mix with the water and to lower the surface tension of the oil/water mixture so that it can spread thinnly and get under the scale and into the breathing pores. So the 'oil' has a purpose, its the 'killing agent', while the detergent's purpose is to aid and abet that purpose.

Good luck.

[chipper5]

Well that's all dandy chipper, but what about the people who are just aching to spray copious amouts of chemicals? Where does this "hocus-pocus" leave them, much less the struggling Monsantos, Bayers and Syngentas of this world?

LOL!!! Mojo, struggling??? I think not

Chipper
My understanding of the 'white oil' killing scale runs a bit like this.

The oil/water mixture is of a consistency (including surface tension) that it not only covers the plant and out layer of the 'scale', but will works its way under the scalely cap and covers the 'live' insect underneath. It covers it so well that it blocks its breathing pores and asphyxiates the poor blighters - that it mechanically kills the insect as distinct from using other means that attack the physiological processes of life of the insect.

The Gard. Mag. recipe uses both 'oil' and 'detergent'. The oil is to perform the same asphyxiation work as in the 'white oil'. The detergent is the allow the oil to mix with the water and to lower the surface tension of the oil/water mixture so that it can spread thinnly and get under the scale and into the breathing pores. So the 'oil' has a purpose, its the 'killing agent', while the detergent's purpose is to aid and abet that purpose.

Good luck.

Hi Roger,

That was my understanding too, which is why I posted the recipe here as an alternative to petrol when a comercial white oil spray is unavailable, as in the original post. Was just to let everyone know that there is an alternative to buying the white oil or if there is none at hand- you can make it yourself.

Chipper5