My Meyer Lemon is indoors for the winter. Scale appeared with honeydew. I used cotton swabs with alcohol on the branches. Then I used alcohol cotton swabs on each leaf, front and back. THe scale seems to have gone, but the honeydew persists. I have been very thorough with the swabs and alcohol. Next I used neem oil spray on the branches and leaves, on top and underneath. The honeydew continues. At spots on the floor where the honeydew shows up I have followed a straight line to the leaf it would seem to be coming from. Indeed I did find on several scale I had missed. However, on some of the leaves I find no scale at all. Am I being too anxious? Is there a time period it takes for the honeydew to stop? It seems to me if there is honeydew there is scale, but I can't find any. Anyone have further advise?
Not at all. The first clue to the presence of scale is honeydew. The adults with their shell are easy to spot whereas the juvenile crawlers are nearly impossible to see with the naked eye. I've had success treating scale with multiple treatments of insecticidal soap. Others advocate using horticultural oil. The soap solution works against the crawlers but is much less effective against the adults. Therefore the adults should be physically removed prior to treatment.
Caludia, using alcohol and a swab is, unfortunately, a very inaficent method of scale eradication and control. As Junglekeeper states, it does kill many of the adults, but fails to eraticate the crawlers (juviniles). It almost never works. As Junglekeeper also writes, a soap/water spray controls scale, but repeated applications are usually required to obtain complete control. I use Ultra Fine horticultural oil. Horticultural oils are completely non toxic, and entirely 100 percent safe to use. Follow label directions by making a 1 percent blend of oil and water, and spray the tree's leaves (top & bottom), branches, and trunk. Ultra Fine can be found at Home Depot or most larger garden centers. Horticultural oils normally work with one application. What ever you decide to use, never spray a citrus tree during the heat of the day. Always spray citrus only early in the morning, or at dusk. - Millet (1,445-)
If you can, try planting your citrus in the ground for the summer, I find that six months allows the plant to bring a vigorous and healthy flush of new foliage, just before I bring it back indoors, however this is not recommended if you desire fruiting...
Thank you K. Baron. I do enjoy the fruit so much from the Meyer Lemon, so probably will not try planting it. My experience has been that when the tree goes back outside for the summer it does very well. However this winter when I brought it back in there was this awful scale problem. That has not happened before. Thank you again. Claudia
