What Emulsifier to Use for a Lime or Sulfur Dormant Spray

Play it Safe

• Before you open any containers or prepare mixtures containing lime or sulfur, put on closed-toe shoes, a long-sleeved shirt, long pants, safety goggles, a breathing mask and gloves. Lime and sulfur can seriously damage your skin, eyes and lungs. When mixing solutions, use only plastic buckets and plastic or wood stirrers because the solution may react with metal products, producing noxious and dangerous gases. Working only outdoors in well-ventilated areas is essential. Also wear the safety gear when spraying your trees and other plants with the solution, and keep all solutions and ingredients out of the reach of children and pets.

Mix it with Water

• The simplest mixture contains 1 tablespoon of lime, sulfur or a lime and sulfur product combined with 1 gallon of water. Spray the plants with the mixture, shaking the sprayer at regular intervals to keep the lime or sulfur suspended in the water. Some plants, including trees, are sensitive to sulfur. Those plants include apricots (Prunus armeniaca), cucurbits (Cucurbita spp.) and raspberries (Rubus idaeus). Apricot and raspberry hardiness depends on the variety or cultivar. One apricot cultivar, "Tropic Gold" (Prunus armeniaca "Tropic Gold"), is hardy in U.S. Department of Agriculture plant hardiness zones 7 through 9, and Raspberry Shortcake, a dwarf, thornless raspberry (Rubus idaeus "NR7"), is hardy in USDA zones 5 through 9.

Mix it with Oil Sprays

• Lime or sulfur may be mixed with an oil and water mixture or with dormant oil and used on trees and shrubs when they are dormant in winter. Although it is possible to mix up to 7 1/2 tablespoons of a lime and sulfur product and 2 1/2 tablespoons of dormant oil with 1 gallon of water, carefully read the products' manufacturer's directions to ensure that the resulting solution won't harm your plants. In summer, however, neither product should be mixed with oil or sprayed within four weeks of any oil treatment because the combination may damage foliage.

Use a Bordeaux Mixture

• A classic method of protecting trees and other plants from fungi and bacteria is to use the Bordeaux mixture, which contains copper sulfate, lime and water. A 10-10-100 solution consists of 10 teaspoons of powdered copper sulfate, 10 tablespoons of dry hydrated lime and 1 gallon of warm water. Divide the water into two plastic buckets, one of which is larger than the other; put two-thirds of the water in the larger bucket and the remainder in the other bucket. Add the copper sulfate to the larger bucket, and mix it with the water well by using a clean, wood or plastic stirring stick. Add the lime to the water in the smaller bucket, and mix those ingredients carefully with a clean, wood or plastic stirring stick. Slowly pour the lime-water mixture into the copper sulfate-water mixture, stirring constantly. After the resulting solution is poured into a spray bottle or sprayer, it can be applied to trees and other plants.