Fruit Tree Spray

Fruit tree spray schedule

Pick your trees and when they bloom. Get a spray calendar by growth stage, with the bee-safe weeks marked.

Your trees
How you spray
When they bloom

Averages. Type your own dates if you know them.

More options

First picking (sets the last cover spray)

Examples come from extension guides. Use only products whose label lists your fruit and pest, and follow the label: it is the law.

Spray log

Trees

Your plan and log are saved in this browser.

How the dates are worked out

Extension guides time sprays by what the buds look like, because bloom can shift two weeks or more between years. The calendar starts from your usual full bloom date and places each stage around it, following the dated calendars from the University of Maryland and UNH. Other fruit start from the apple date in the bloom order seen in Michigan State and WSU records. A bloom date from July on counts as a southern season. Treat each date as when to start watching.

Example: apples that bloom around April 15 with a peach around April 5. Peach petal fall lands right on apple bloom, so that week the calendar warns you: no insecticide on the peach while the apple flowers are open nearby.

  • Dormant. Buds closed and tight, late winter.
  • Green tip or swollen bud. Scales part; apple tips show green.
  • Pink or white bud. Flower buds show color but are shut.
  • Bloom. Flowers open. No insecticides.
  • Petal fall. About three quarters of the petals are down.
  • Cover sprays. From a week after petal fall until harvest, as pests need.

Before you spray

  • Read the whole label before you buy, mix and spray. Use only products labeled for that fruit and that pest, at the label rate. The label is the law.
  • No insecticides on or near blooming trees, or when bees are foraging nearby.
  • Respect the days-to-harvest on the label. Log each spray and the planner shows when you can pick.
  • Wear what the label asks for. Oregon State suggests long sleeves, long pants, unlined rubber gloves and eye protection, and washing those clothes afterward.
  • Don't spray in wind or above 85 °F. Poison Control: 1-800-222-1222.
Example days to wait before picking
From Oregon State EC 631, Table 1, and UK ID-21 where marked. Your product's label rules.
Active ingredientWait
Bacillus subtilis, Bacillus thuringiensis, insecticidal soap, horticultural oil (in season)0 days
propiconazole0 days
captan, sulfur, pyrethrins1 day
thiophanate-methyl (UK ID-21)1 day
myclobutanil1 day on stone fruit; apples 14 days (OSU) or 90 days (UK ID-21)
carbaryl3 days
malathion1 to 7 days
permethrin1 to 14 days
combination home orchard sprays3 to 7 days
acetamiprid7 days
spinosad7 to 14 days
bifenthrin (pears only)14 days
lambda-cyhalothrin, gamma-cyhalothrin14 to 21 days
esfenvalerate21 to 28 days
streptomycin (UK ID-21)50 days on apples, 30 on pears
mancozeb (UK ID-21)77 days on apples and pears
kaolin clay, neem, potassium bicarbonatenot stated: see the label
chlorothalonilnot after shuck split
fixed copperearly season or after harvest only

Questions people ask

When should I spray my fruit trees?

Go by the buds, not the date. The main sprays fall at dormant (late winter, buds closed), green tip or swollen bud, pink or white bud, petal fall, and then cover sprays every one to two weeks while fruit grows. Never spray insecticides while the trees are in bloom.

What is a dormant spray, and is it too late if I missed it?

It is horticultural oil, sometimes with copper, put on before the buds open to smother scale and mite eggs. On apples, oil can still go on up to half-inch green. Peach leaf curl is different: once buds swell it is too late this year, so spray in autumn after the leaves drop.

Can I spray fruit trees while they are blooming?

Not with insecticides, because bees are pollinating. Some guides list fungicides for bloom, such as for brown rot or fire blight, only when the weather calls for it. Combination home orchard sprays contain an insecticide, so skip them during bloom.

What does an organic fruit tree spray schedule use?

The same stages, with products such as dormant oil, fixed copper, sulfur, kaolin clay, insecticidal soap, Bt and spinosad. Not every product with those ingredients is approved for organic growing, so check the label. Never use sulfur on apricots, and keep oil and sulfur two weeks apart.

How does a Bonide fruit tree spray schedule fit in?

Bonide Fruit Tree and Plant Guard is a combination spray with a fungicide and an insecticide. Oregon State lists combination sprays with a 3 to 7 day wait before harvest and warns that using them in bloom can kill bees. Follow the timing on its label, use the stage calendar to know when, and skip bloom.

How long before harvest can I spray?

It depends on the product. The label gives a pre-harvest interval, the days to wait from the last spray until you pick. Oregon State's table ranges from 0 days for insecticidal soap to 21 to 28 days for esfenvalerate. Log each spray with its label wait and the planner shows the first safe picking day.

Do I have to spray every stage?

No. Spray for the pests and diseases you actually have. Scab-resistant apples rarely need fungicides, aphids can often be hosed off, and bagging apples at dime size keeps codling moth out. Cleaning up fallen leaves and fruit cuts disease. If blemishes don't bother you, a lighter schedule works.

Check your state extension guide

Pests, products and timing differ by state, and some counties require home growers to control pests near commercial orchards. Your land-grant university's extension service has the local schedule and can identify problems.

Extension services by state

Sources: Managing diseases and insects in home orchards (Oregon State University Extension, EC 631, revised 2020, reviewed 2024); Pest management schedules for fruit trees in Eastern Oregon (Oregon State University Extension, EM 9452, 2025); Disease and insect control programs for homegrown fruit in Kentucky, including organic alternatives (University of Kentucky, ID-21); Home fruit spray schedule (UNH Extension fact sheet, updated 2017); Backyard fruit tree spray schedules (WSU Tree Fruit; apples and pears updated 2026, stone fruits 2019); Spray program for multi-tree fruit orchards (University of Maryland Extension, updated March 2026); Home apple pest management calendar (University of Maine Cooperative Extension); Growth stages in fruit trees, from dormant to fruit set (Chapman and Catlin, NY Food and Life Sciences Bulletin 58, Cornell); Timing of apple tree bloom (Mike Parker, NC State, Extension Foundation apples site); Fruits and nuts for New Mexico orchards (New Mexico State University, Guide H-310); Dates of full bloom for various fruits, 1983 to 2021 (Michigan State University NW Michigan Horticultural Research Center, Traverse City); Full bloom dates for Red Delicious apples, 1922 to present (WSU Extension Chelan-Douglas, Wenatchee) (page since removed; archived copy); Tree fruit pest monitoring weekly report, May 8 2025 (Cornell, average bloom dates at Highland and Geneva); Home orchard calendar (Penn State Extension, zone 6 Mid-Atlantic, updated 2023) (page since removed; archived copy); Fruit trees for home gardens: management (Illinois Extension).