Diagnosis before chemicals — always
Tree spraying earns its bad reputation from companies that sell calendar routes: show up monthly, fog everything, invoice. That approach wastes money, kills the beneficial insects doing half your pest control for free, and breeds resistance. Tree Care Pros follows Integrated Pest Management (IPM) on every spray job in DFW: identify the pest or pathogen, confirm intervention is actually warranted, select the least disruptive effective product, and document the outcome. About 30% of our spray requests end with us recommending no spray at all.
The DFW spray calendar
Late winter (Jan–Feb): dormant horticultural oil — smothers overwintering scale, mite eggs, and aphid eggs before bud break. The highest-value application of the year for infested trees, and among the gentlest on beneficials.
Bud break (Mar–Apr): protective fungicide window for anthracnose, fire blight, and leaf-spot diseases. These sprays prevent infection; they cannot cure it after the fact — which is why timing decides everything.
Late May–June: bagworm window. Larvae must be treated while small (Bt works beautifully here); once bags harden in July, spraying is largely futile and hand-removal is the honest answer.
Summer (Jun–Aug): scouting-driven applications for lace bugs, aphids, spider mites, and fall webworm, plus species-specific scale crawler windows tracked by degree-days, not dates.
Fall: final webworm cleanup, sanitation review, and program planning for the next dormant season.
Spraying vs. injection vs. soil treatment
Surface problems get sprays: chewing and sucking insects, foliar fungal disease. Vascular problems get trunk injections: oak wilt, bacterial leaf scorch, borers, chlorosis. Root-zone problems get soil treatment. A company that only owns a spray rig will recommend spraying for everything — we do all three in-house, so the tool follows the diagnosis.
Pollinator and drift protection
We never spray flowering trees during bloom. Applications run only when wind is under 10 mph with no rain expected for 24 hours, with buffer awareness near pools, ponds, beehives, and vegetable gardens. Product, rate, target, and weather conditions are documented on every job — records homeowners and HOAs receive in writing.
Pricing transparency
Single spray applications in DFW typically run $150–$650 per visit depending on tree height, canopy size, and tree count; small ornamentals start around $95. Seasonal programs (dormant oil + bud-break fungicide + in-season scouting sprays) are quoted as a package and reduce per-visit cost. Every estimate is free, written, and itemized.