Hi I noticed a few weeks ago that few of the leaves on my meyer lemon where sticky (as if someone spilled some syrup on them). I then noticed that 2 branches on the bottom of the tree (closest to the soil) had stuff growing on them (black and brown dots). I think these are scales. I attached a couple of pictures for confirmation. My meyer lemon now has lots of flowers on it and I brought it indoors a month ago away from the freezing temp outside (it is in a big pot). What should I do? Can I cut the branches? Your help is much appreciated
it does look like scale, dont chop any branches off theres no need as there will be some on the other branches hiding away were they cant be seen, Just squish the scale, or spray with a horticultural oil, keep squishing and spraying till there gone!
Hi StarLoc, thanks for your reply. Can I spray the tree inside? My tree currently has lots and lots of flowers, would spraying it hurt now? Thank again Nidal
You should avoid the flowers , but i just spray them as well,i have had no problems but i use neem oil so it may be different to the usual horticultural oil ,it is best to avoid the flowers as everyone says to as you can loose the flowers i always spray the inside plants inside , it should be quite safe to do so with oil/water mix, i do it with pesticides (not so good!) Myself, i would squish the ones by the flowers, it takes time but works well
Hello again, I bought some neem oil and sprayed my tree twice a couple of weekends ago. I have not seen any improvement yet as I am still finding scales on new branches. I am assuming I should spray more regularly but the problem I have is that it is close to freezing here in Memphis and neem oil smells badly. So I am waiting for some warmer spells where i could place my tree outside to spary and leave a few days before bringing it inside. Any other method that might work? I also am squashing those scales as I find them! what about spraying with soap and water? would that help? I am also finding sticky stuff on the leaves - what is this and where is it coming from? Thanks Nidal
The sticky stuff is excreted by the scale, don't be surprised if you find a few black patches of sooty mold. Just wipe it off. It gravitates to the sticky substance. Squish the scale...check the plant every day and squish them. Spray with a mix of water, cooking oil, crushed garlic juice, citrus juice and a pinch of cayenne pepper with a couple of drops of dish soap. Only small amounts of each are needed! Shake well, and spray the plant. Everywhere. Every little nook and cranny needs to be saturated with the solution. Do this every 4 days or so, and in between, squish! Be wary though. Using oil to often, I have heard, can be harmful.
I would recommend you just use Ultra Fine horticulture oil. Should be able to easily locate it at any Home Depot, or larger garden center. Ultra Fine is the worlds number one control for scale, aphids, mealy bugs and spider mites on citrus.. - Millet
If you can get limonene (distilled citrus peel oil), there have been tests that it works better than horticultural oil http://cat.inist.fr/?aModele=afficheN&cpsidt=16845093
Interesting that Starloc mentions using limonene, a chemical that is extracted from citrus peels. Using citrus oil to kill pests is a relatively new idea that originated in the 1980s when researcher Craig Sheppard at the University of Georgia discovered that orange soap mix would repel ants. The two compounds in citrus oil that are particularly effective against insects are limonene and linalool, both of which act as nerve toxins in insects. One of the problems with citrus oil sprays, though, is that they can be damaging to plant material. These products tend to be applied at a concentration of from 1 percent to as much as 6 percent citrus oil, which is pretty high for most insecticides and certainly higher that you can achieve with homemade citrus sprays. If you are particularly concerned about fire ants, you will be happy to know that a set of trials in Texas has shown that commercial citrus oils can be quite effective at controlling these pests. Though citrus oil is usually considered relatively safe, it certainly can injure your eyes. Though not for use on some plants, citrus oils make sense in many situations because of the safety factor. As I have not used citrus oils as a spray on citrus trees, I cannot say whether it is safe on the foliage or not. Perhaps Starloc knows. - Millet
Sorry, I did not read all the latter posts, but do bath your Meyer in soapy (dish soap works) water, and you will be amazed that all the scale will die. I did this to all my out of door citrus (Meyer/Kumquat/pomelo/grapefruit/tangerine) up to 5 feet tall, repot and shower with soapy water, and voila, no more scale for two months, touch wood!@...they will be replanted out of doors in March.
Thank you all for your prompt responses and great insights! I will try and find horticultural oils (i did ask at Lowes for it but they semeed clueless)! I will try homedepot. Do horticultural oils have a bad smell? is the smell harmful? my tree is in the house now and don't want to breathe it all day & night. I will also consider the soapy water option if this sounds the most indoor friendly option. Regarding repotting - can I repot this time of year? Is it OK to repot when my tree has lots of blossoms? (I live in Memphis and it is currently fluctuating between 32F & 50F). Thanks again for all your help !
Depends on the condition of the potting mix. If the tree is pretty stressed from scale it may be best to hold off. But if the potting mix currently is really really bad it might be worth risking.
Horticultural oil are 100 percent non toxic. There are no fumes and no order. Completely safe to use. No matter what you spray your tree with, be sure to spray early in the morning or just before dusk. NEVER spray a citrus tree during the heat of the day. Good luck. - Millet
I have been spraying the citrus oil on a lot of plants since around the start of november, so not that long, but it seems to do no harm to the leaves, i tried it first as i bought a product sold as not being a pesticide, just a plant wash, that had a side effect of killing spidermites (they sell it as a wash as a way of not having it tested as a pesiticide i think, to save money!), the plant was was 5% limonene in water (just about) The oil i used at about 1 percent,to water with a tiny bit of dishwash liquid ( instead of dishwash i use 1 granule of sodium laureth sulphate (used for making dishwash liquid) ) It kills on contact, whitefly and spider mites, the reason i tried as i have a pomegranite tree with white fly that would not die, they spread to the chillie plants so i needed to do something before they got to the citrus., I tried it on the citrus as theres fruit on most trees and there in the house... i didnt want to be spraying anything like malathion etc on them . I also had thrips on the buddhas hand , while not a real problem they make the leaves look bad so i tried it, it killed them as well. It seems to have no harmfull effect to any plants i tried at 1% to water, i used on seedlings as well, all the citrus types i have, tomatoes a few varietys, chilie peppers , sweet peppers, spearmint, pomegranite, geraniums with no ill effect And it makes the plants smell like citrus unlike neem, the citrus smell wears off overnight, but isnt that strong at 1% solution, maybe being a contact poison to insects it would be good mixed with the horticultural oil
you can use a mix of water, dish soap and cooking oil - i don't have the exact measurements here (the formula is on my comp at home). it's something like a gallon of water and a drop or two of dish soap and a tablespoon of oil. shake well to mix and then spray on the affected plant...i think it's weekly treatments until they're gone. another thing you could do (in between spraying) is use q-tips dipped in rubbing alcohol and rub them over the stems and in the crevices where the leaves attach to the branches and where the branches attach to the trunk...you'll kill the eggs before they can hatch.
