I have a meyer lemon that hasn't been well but is finally growing leaves, and a couple of flowers (think I went too long without watering). I was inspecting it for scale, and found one thin branch had a sticky substance on it. Thinking the worse, I looked closer. I have inspected the branch, and the ooze seems to be leaking from where the closed bloom is attached to the tree. Is this normal?
Under stress, from both environmental /pests/ negligence from you the care giver... Give it the required care, for it's needs this time of year, and temper it in the warm spring months ahead, and expect to see a flush of new growth as it will be happy to be out of doors and roots in the ground... only to be repotted for the winter... When the temp. suddenly dropped below freezing, and a wickedly arctic wind swooped over Metro Vancouver, lingering for days ...I had no option for the Lemon tree's survival... so uprooted and now it is repotted in a cramped container, I have yet to loose a leaf or see any distress, the garage is humid and cool which hasn't harmed the plant. However, I am not seening new growth because the temp. is less than 13 celsius. If you have the plant in the house, it has reacted to the change in temp/humidity/light source? Keep diligent on the scale, bath or mist it with safers soap, or a dish detergent and water solution... just don't over water it... that will kill your Meyer...
This meyer has never lived outdoors. It was bought back in august, and the temps were starting to cool very rapidly so I didn't let it live outside. It has spent 4 and a half months doing nothing above soil, but now it is growing a lot of leaves and a few blooms. Everything I have, from light, to heat and humidity, is well set up, and all of my citrus and bonsai seem happy. It's just that sticky stuff from that one place that seems confusing lol.
The sticky resin, may be a normal response to protect the new buds. On my Meyer, I noticed the accumulation of beaded resin on some of foliage, but I think the lemon tree was reacting to a chronic scale infestation. which I have resolved to date... You can remove this resin it with soapy water... it can accumulate on furnishings, not so pleasant... and whatever else you are doing, the tree must be content since it is both blooming and sprouting new leaves.
Check for mealy bugs...., they often live between the base of the petals and the stem, the same with small fruit they go betwen the small fruit an the base, as the fruit swells, they live in the closed over bit and then swell up and the fruit or petals fall off, i used isopropanol to kill them eventualy when they were moving round the tree, but the ones inbetween i used bayer provado systemic bug killer , the thiacloprid one
