Aphid on Citrus (lemon & lime)

[kevinjohnsonmbe]

Lemon is suffering, lime is succumbing and loosing limbs to aphid literally sucking the life out of them.

 

Anyone had any success with natural predators? What worked and where to source them?

 

[Paul in the woods]

That looks more like a scale insect, I get them on my lemon tree. I only try and rub them off and clear the sooty mould of the leaves with a damp cloth and not tried the controls. Leaving the plant in the rain during the warmer months seems to help.

 

More details on the RHS - https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profile?PID=788

[kevinjohnsonmbe]

That looks more like a scale insect, I get them on my lemon tree. I only try and rub them off and clear the sooty mould of the leaves with a damp cloth and not tried the controls. Leaving the plant in the rain during the warmer months seems to help.

 

More details on the RHS - https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profile?PID=788

 

Spot on....!! That was me typing whilst thinking of something else!! :bang head:

 

I've neglected them and left them in the orangery all Summer! It's bad, and I'm half minded to give them a dose of something chemical and see if next year comes back better or just bin them and start again.

 

I gave them a good 2 day all over soapy wash earlier on in the year but I just can't seem to keep on top of the little blighters!

[eggsarascal]

Orangery. Get you.

[kevinjohnsonmbe]

Orangery (OK, greenhouse if you like!!!). Get you.

 

There's no oranges in there! Just lemon, lime, peach & grape!

 

You never replied to that parish council thing!

[eggsarascal]

There's no oranges in there! Just lemon, lime, peach & grape!

 

You never replied to that parish council thing!

 

My poor attempt at humor.

 

I'll get back to the parish council when I get back from the market.

[Paul in the woods]

I've neglected them and left them in the orangery all Summer! It's bad, and I'm half minded to give them a dose of something chemical and see if next year comes back better or just bin them and start again.

 

That's the problem, it seems hard to kill all of the pests and they do multiply rapidly once they get going.

 

If you're thinking of binning them then you can try giving them a very hard cut back before the new growth in spring. I removed virtually all my lemon's leaves and it's grown back well. Still got scale though.

 

Perhaps a prune and then a spray?