In Idaho Falls, traditional bug sprays and tree injections don't work in the dead of winter. Because your trees are dormant, they aren't moving nutrients (or pesticides) through their vascular systems.
However, that doesn't mean the insects have left—they are just hiding under the bark, waiting for the first sign of spring to start eating.
While you shouldn't spray chemicals on frozen leaves, you can protect your landscape by targeting overwintering eggs and larvae.
The key to preventing a spring breakout in Eastern Idaho is a dormant oil application. This treatment smothers pests before they ever hatch, saving your trees from damage before the growing season even begins.
Here is why winter is the time for planning, not spraying, and how to use dormant oil to protect your property in Idaho Falls.
Even Bugs Need a Break
The good news: most bugs aren't actively feeding on your trees and shrubs during Idaho winters.
They’re curled up under the bark, or hiding in cozy places, maybe sipping cocoa and watching Netflix, waiting for it to warm up so they can chow down again.
You can relax, too — applying pest control for trees and shrubs in winter would be a waste.
Here in cold Idaho Falls, the pesticides sprayed on leaves would just freeze to your plants.
Systemic insecticides don’t work in winter months here, either. Those tree injections that work by moving the chemicals through your tree’s vascular system can’t do their job because your trees are dormant. They’re not moving anything. The treatment would just sit on top of the frozen ground.
At Lawn Buddies, our last insecticide treatment for trees is applied in September if applied to the leaves. Our last systemic treatments, done by injection, happen in October.
That’s your last chance to protect trees and shrubs from winter pests with spray or injections.
Pest Control for Trees and Shrubs in Winter: Dormant Oil
If you’re the worrying type and stressed that damaging insects and their hungry larvae are waiting to pounce on your trees and shrubs at the first thaw, you can treat them with dormant oil in early spring.
Also called horticultural oil, dormant oil spray is a highly refined petroleum product used as an insecticide to suffocate insects and insect eggs that have overwintered on trees and shrubs.
Instead of poisoning the bugs, you’re basically smothering them with the oil. The oil kills any lingering insects as well as their eggs, so they won’t hatch in the spring.
Lawn Buddies technicians will apply the oil spray in early spring while your trees and shrubs are still dormant.
Then, bye bugs. It’s a great way to protect trees and shrubs from winter pests waiting to pounce in spring.
Are Your Trees and Shrubs Ready for a New Best Friend?
Do trees and shrubs need insect control in winter? Rest easy this winter and set at least one stress aside— bugs are taking the winter off.
But spring isn’t that far away.
Expert plant health care like tree injections, deep root fertilization, and dormant oil treatments are available for our Idaho Falls customers who use our full-service lawn care program.
Choose an Idaho Falls professional lawn care service that bundles your yard’s most-needed treatments into one convenient, no-fuss plan.
Got a few minutes? That’s all you need to get started. Just fill out the form on this page, call us at (208) 656-9131 or read more about our services. Then you can kick back and relax in your healthy, thriving yard.
