I am worried about this lemon tree. We just moved to this house and apparently, it had another lemon tree friend right next to it on the other side of the glass door that died a few months ago! Also, before we moved in the termite people came to fumigate our house. so they covered it in tent that i think went between this tree and the wall (small space). My concern is that some of the leaves have this black stuff on them (looks dusty and it falls off easily), and underneath white dots (appear stuck on). it is flowering fine and has about 5 lemons growing on it. also there are quite a lot of insects in general, but this one seems to be attracting a lot of big green flies. 1. any advice or suggestions for treatment? 2. Is it safe to eat the lemons if the fumigation tent did not cover (but was very close to) the tree? Thanks so much!
The black stuff is probably sooty mold-- it grows on the secretions of insects like aphids which I think is what you have--hard to tell from the pics--if not aphids it may be scale or whiteflies. Anyway, soap is an easy first shot at getting rid of them --just a TBS or so of dishwashing liquid in a gallon of water--you can also add some oil if you want (about 1 tbs/gal of veg oil). You can also use lime sulfur, or horticultural oil as alternatives. As for the fumigation, I would not worry since the fumigation involved a very volatile chemical that has long since dissipated--otherwise it would be unsafe to be inside the house. Skeet
Great, so Just to check: I should wash the leaves that look affected with soap/oil mix? Here is a bigger picture incase this helps your diagnosis Thanks!
Eleni, I believe Skeeterbug meant 1 TBS dish liquid and (if you want) 1 TBS veg oil per gallon of water. The info in parentheses was misleading if read straight through. Please don't douse tree with a gallon of oil! Barbara
Barbara is right--I am use to scientific notation where / means "per" -- that may not be obvious to everyone. Eleni, the larger picture looks more like scale and while soap may help kill the larvae, the ones that have built a hard cover are difficult to kill with the soap and veg oil spray. Spraying with horticultural oil or lime sulfur may be the better choice, but I have read post by people that have used rubbing alcohol and cleaned each leaf individually with it.
Ok thanks Barbara and Skeeterbug! Ill try it both one way and if it doesnt work try the next. migh post pictures of its recovered state once we're there. :) Eleni
