AusBonsai

Still fighting bugs and fungus this year I thought a dose of lime sulfur was worth a try. Seeing pines being dipped in a lime sulfur solution and reading the bottle which stated such things as green and red bud stage I thought it was okay to use it diluted on trees in leaf. Now in hindsight I see I was just stupid!
Gave many trees a dose of about 20ml per litre as the bottle suggested. Soon after I finished the trees leaves had a shade of white on them and I thought this is why it is not often used when in leaf but that didn't worry me as I I just want healthy trees at the moment and I am not worried if the leaves are stained. But thought I better double check on the Internet.
Oops I found this

Lime sulfur burns leaves so it is not as useful for evergreen plants.

Obviously drop in on Sunday posts are often not read well as I mentioned there I was using it and no one picked me up on it. Anyway even though the trees where enjoying a break in the rain I have sprayed off as much as I can with the hose and now have the sprinkler system going to wash of as much away as I can.
I found some information that lime sulfur has been used to burn leaves of roses that refuse to go dormant so hopefully the worst that will happen is I have a chemical defoliation.
This could also be worse that expected though as so far every tree I have defoliated with this bug/fungus has died

I will have to be on my toes now

Brett,

lime sulfur is usually applied in the dorment season when decidious trees are naked and conifers has ceased any new growth. Given rate seems to be 3% i use it up here on my benched twice a year but not on trees as it dosent get cold enough. It will leave a white residue especially in larger amounts. Do not let it get in the soil it can do nasty things, if its raining heavy prob not a concern. I defiantly dont use it on tropicals
hope all trees go well.

Hi Brett,

You also need to read all the fine print and go on line and check out all the available information and experiences available on each product until you are used to using any chemical. Or ask specific questions , like I did for Don about peppercorn, if you don't know the answer. It is no shame not to know or not to have experienced a certain situation before.

For instance it says not to spray Lime Sulphur if temperatures are over 32 degrees celcius. However I know one grower who sprayed his pines in mid summer in the cool of the evening then rinsed it off in the next morning without any harm to his trees.

However if you are experimenting you do it on a piece of young nursery stock and not old bonsai.

Grant Bowie
NBPCA

O no, did it kill all your trees. soapy water could of eradicated most of the bugs. I always use soapy water or diluted perioxide on my cacti,and started using it on my trees. It kills the bugs you cant see under the ground also. Brett this is a tragic lesson to learn, i feel for you mate. As you said no one picked it up on sunday,i hadnt read your post either,only some times i read them all. I did know that lime burns, and now you mention sulphar that rings a warning bell also. Stay away from chemicals, they are not good. Good idea to keep the sprinkler on, hopefuly it'll flush it out and same the majority. good luck.

oh oh defoliating a pine usually means a dead one. i never ever use it any where other than deadwood on conifers. my trees are damn healthy. besides i thought you would be falirly dry and warm up there where you are. more reason to if alot of humidity and / or wet. sorry to hear you've been stupid.
ps i dont read sundays other wise i would have pulled you up.

I read sundays but Verry rarely use chemicals ata ll and have never used LS.

Never even Crossed my mind sorry. but at least we all know now

It has been a few hours since I sprayed and all is ok so far I am hoping I get lucky that the cool weather we are having will work in my favour plus that I washed it of about 1/2 an hour or so after I applied. Some leaves still look a little pale from the lime sulfur stain. I still have a slight hope that I actually did some good.

my trees are damn healthy. besides i thought you would be falirly dry and warm up there where you are. more reason to if alot of humidity and / or wet. sorry to hear you've been stupid

I noticed your trees where looking good. It has been a funny season for me so far. I was starting to think I would never get an issue like this. Being as I never use pesticides before apart from a Winter application of lime sulfur or two. Deciding to step up my pesticide use to compare and learn before I got going things whet funny and although I probably should be spraying more I have never used so much.
It could not have happened at a worse time with all trees that I dug out of the ground this year for a re-organise, root work. Many refused to bud out for a long time and these are worst affected. Ray has said that the extended dormancy happens to him in field collecting on dry years. He puts them in a humid igloo to break dormancy. I still have a few that are still dormant. I am sure the fact that I have too many trees this year is also a contributing factor.
In any event I am suspicious that the trees that came out of the ground have caused the issue as it was the field growing trees that had some issues last year that they grew through.
It is not all bad most of the important stuff is growing fine and I haven't lost anything important yet and I have stopped pulling my hair out and starting to learn from it.

I did check around about lime sulfur. I did not find anything about not using when in leaf although I did only find winter use explained. The bottle instructions say fruit trees and some of them are in leaf all year round and it also states usage for summer on Roses. Damn buggers should say Don't use when in leaf I reckon

Anyway I will keep ya's upto date on the results as they come to hand

Oh as to the pines Antonio I am not so concerned about them. I think I mentioned that I had read about the Pines getting a lime sulfur treatment in Winter well what I saw was small pines being turned upside down and the foliage dipped into a lime sulfur mix. So I guess pines are ok? I am hoping anyway