Winter Prevention Plan

Some of our favourite summer stone fruit, like Peaches and Nectarines, are prone to a serious  fungal disease called Leaf Curl. It causes leaves to be discoloured and distorted, making the tree look awful and affecting the way the tree photosynthesises. Leaf Curl disease spores are lying in wait on tree stems during winter, ready to infect new leaves as
they emerge in spring.

Leaf Curl is a disease that needs to be prevented, and it's really important to spray stone fruit trees against Leaf Curl during winter while they're dormant and leafless. Yates Lime Sulfur is an effective way to kill the leaf curl disease spores. Spray the stems and trunk of the tree thoroughly with Yates Lime Sulfur,  before the spring flower and leaf buds begin to swell.

Yates Lime Sulfur can also be used during winter on stone fruit trees to prevent Mites, Freckle disease (which can be particularly devastating on Apricots), Shot Hole, Brown Rot (a common disease during wet and humid weather) and various Scale Insects.

Apple trees can also be sprayed with Yates Lime Sulfur during winter to help control the diseases Black Spot and Powdery Mildew, as well as Mites and Scale Insects.

An alternative winter spray for preventing Leaf Curl on Nectarines and Peaches is Yates Liquid Copper. The timing of the spray is critical and must be applied in the week prior to buds opening. Yates Liquid Copper can also help prevent common diseases like Freckle, Shot Hole and Bacterial Gummosis (which appears as sticky gum oozing from stems) in various stone fruit.

If you've noticed the stems on your Roses are covered with lots of small white bumps, it's likely to be a Scale Insect infestation. Scales are sap feeding insects that feast on the sugary sap flowing through plants and can cause Rose health to decline. After you've given your Roses their winter prune and well before any leaf buds burst open, spray the Rose bush thoroughly with Yates Lime Sulfur to control scale and help give your Roses a fresh start in spring.

There is a variety of Scale Insects that can attack citrus throughout the year, including White Louse Scale. Also known as Citrus Snow Scale, young male Scales are white and only 1 mm long however often appear as a massed infestation, covering stems and the trunk in what looks like a dusting of powdery snow. If your citrus trees are showing signs of White Louse Scale, spray the trunk and affected stems with Yates Lime Sulfur. It will also control Rust Mite and Bud Mite, as well as Sooty Blotch which is a fungus that causes blemishes on the skin of citrus fruit.

Powdery Mildew is the description for a group of fungal diseases, with different mildews specifically affecting certain plants. Powdery Mildew is most prevalent in warm and humid or warm and dry conditions, depending on the type of mildew. The first symptom is leaves being covered by a white ash-like film and can progress to leaf yellowing and distortion and in severe cases, leaf death. In the case of Rose Powdery Mildew, flower buds can also be affected and buds may fail to open or the petals become deformed.

To help break the Powdery Mildew cycle on Roses, during winter while Roses are leafless and dormant, they can be sprayed with Yates Lime Sulfur. Spray at the higher 'winter' rate and thoroughly cover all the stems. Killing the Powdery Mildew spores during winter will help your Roses be healthier come spring, so it really does pay to be proactive and set some time aside for winter spraying.

Azalea Petal Blight is a common disease that affects azalea flowers in spring. To reduce the incidence of this disease, in late winter or just when flower buds are beginning to swell, spray the azalea with Yates Mancozeb Plus. It's a broad spectrum fungicide that will prevent azalea petal blight and help keep the flowers looking gorgeous.