Pipfruit and stonefruit trees have all sorts of nooks and crannies – perfect environments for lurking nasties. Oil-Mate II enhances spread and coverage of winter oils including reaching insects under the bark and in cracks and crevices.
Oil-Mate ll and winter oils - working together to fight crime pests
Pipfruit and stonefruit trees have all sorts of nooks and crannies – perfect environments for lurking nasties. And, if not controlled, mealybug and scale populations, in particular, can be a major threat to fruit quality.
Ryan Pierce, UPL Regional Manager Lower North Island, says Oil-Mate II, as the name suggests, is a spray oil programme’s best friend. “Oil-Mate ensures winter oil-based insecticide spray is delivered to all the pests’ hiding places. There’s no escape.
“That means the insecticides will do their job more effectively. That delivers better value for the orchardist, while reducing risk and pest population pressure. If you haven’t got a clean orchard at the start, problems will compound over the season.”
Unique adjuvant to enhance mineral spray oils
Oil-Mate II is unique. The second generation, very low use rate, silicone-based adjuvant is purpose-designed to work with mineral spray oils. Oil-Mate II enhances spread and coverage including reaching insects under the bark and in cracks and crevices.
The product works by reducing the surface tension of the oil after the spray water has evaporated from the plant. Ryan says that reduced surface tension means the oil can spread over a much larger area than would normally be possible.
Ryan recommends using Oil-Mate II with Du Wett Super-Spreader, a two-pronged attack to support spray efficiency with Du-Wett working on spreading the water in lower application volumes, and Oil-Mate II providing the optimal spread.
“Using adjuvants like Oil-Mate and Du-Wett together helps achieve significant efficiencies. You can use less water and get improved spread – that means fewer passes, reduced fuel use, and less time in the block. At the same time, more accurate spray deposition means less waste – so you’re getting the best out of the spray you’re paying good money for.”
