|
Post by breezygardener on Feb 20, 2020 18:15:11 GMT -5
Anyone have a relatively tried & true solution?
My little Meyer Lemon seedling has been suffering from it since coming indoors from a summer outside & I just can't seem to get a handle on it.
Have tried plain dish soap & water, Safer Insecticidal Soap, & rubbing alcohol at separate intervals, & since the seedling only has around 8-9 leaves, it's easy for me to be extremely thorough getting into every leaf side, stem, & crevice of the plant. Yet after a week or so the sticky "honeydew" & those darn brown scales are back. I've even repotted it, since I read that the insects can actually live in the top inch or so of soil. My next step will be Neem Oil, as I've also read that that can help, but after that I'm out of ideas.
|
|
|
Post by binnylou on Feb 20, 2020 19:06:07 GMT -5
breezygardener, not a tried and true fix, but I would consider placing the tree in a plastic bag, set a small tin/container at the base and put a neem saturated cotton ball in the tin. Close the bag...maybe not tightly. I have an essential oil blend that I use in the kitchen cupboards where food is stored. It is called Pest Defy. I use the cotton ball method, and that seems to keep the pantry moths away. This particular blend contains citronella, cedarwood, lemongrass, and geranium essential oils. I have not researched their safety for plants, just for topical use.
|
|
|
Post by pepperhead212 on Feb 20, 2020 20:37:12 GMT -5
I have that problem with my kaffir lime and curry tree. These are in large pots, and brought in every fall. I trim them back severely, making sure that there are no branches near the soil surface, then I water it with a solution of orange oil, really soaking the soil. Then I brush the first 3" of the trunks with tanglefoot! The scale insects (and ants, that farm them) would have to crawl over this to get to the leaves, so this helps prevent them.
Once on them, what I did was spray them (I took them out to the deck, and put them up on the rail, to totally wet the undersides of the leaves) with a solution of that orange oil (50% weaker than the suggested amount, as it spots the leaves, when it dries on them) and pyrethrins - something I don't use, unless desparate! This killed the bugs on there, which eventually had to be removed, by wiping with weak alcohol.
After going through all of this that one time is when I came up with the tanglefoot idea!
I can't figure out why I never see these bugs outside, only inside??
|
|
|
Post by breezygardener on Feb 22, 2020 11:15:38 GMT -5
Thanks for the ideas.
This seedling came via mail order, & was checked thoroughly upon arrival & found to be clean of any pests. But after a couple of months outdoors, guess it was discovered. Only the lemon seedling was targeted, had/have no Scale on anything else, not even my tropical hibiscus.
|
|
|
Post by johndavis4 on Mar 16, 2024 4:30:16 GMT -5
Ugh, sounds like you’re really going through it with those stubborn scale bugs on your Meyer Lemon seedling. You’ve basically run the gauntlet with dish soap, insecticidal soap, and rubbing alcohol, and still, those little buggers are hanging on. It’s like playing Whack-a-Mole but with pests, right? Neem oil is definitely your next best bet. It’s like the Swiss Army knife for plant problems – kinda stinky but pretty effective. Just make sure to hit every nook and cranny, because those scales are sneaky. If Neem oil doesn’t send them packing, you might need to call in the cavalry with something stronger, but fingers crossed it doesn’t come to that. Keep fighting the good fight, and don’t let those pests win. Your lemon buddy is counting on you!
|
|
|
Post by breezygardener on Mar 16, 2024 11:04:03 GMT -5
Your lemon buddy is counting on you! My "lemon buddy" gave up the ghost several years ago. Maybe take a peek at the date of the original post before adding yours.
|
|