Lemon pest/disease

[horner.neil]

Hello,

I just moved into a new flat in Canberra, Australia. There's a lemon tree in the garden, which is nice, but it's not in the best of health. Alot of the leafs look chlorotic. Some have brown patches and holes. Some of the fruit has whiteish stuff on it. I've seen a couple of white fly type things as well. I sprayed with a pymethrin/oil mixture to get rid of any insects. I was just wondering whether there maybe a fungal or bacterial problem as well that may need attention. Here's a link to some typical leafs and fruit from the tree. Any help would be appreciated.

Cheers

[FarmI]

Have a look at the rest of them in the region and you'll find they all look ghastly at this time of year. Give it a good feed - Dynamic Lifter will do but water it well before giving the feed, wait a day, feed it and then water it again and mulch it (but not up to the stem - an old plastic pot with the bottom cut out and slit down the side works well to keep mulch off stems). Keep it well watered through summer (and fed). In a few weeks you'll see a world of difference.

Some have brown patches and holes.

May or may not solve it - keep an eye on it or otherwise back to Rodneys you go. Put a thick band of Vaseline round the trunk and keep it on if you have any ants around.

[David Hare-Scott]

Ah Canberra! How I yearn! Cold in winter, hot in summer, sterile all year round.

Citrus are pretty marginal in the Canberra winter. Little ones can be killed by frost and even mature trees can be knocked back severely unless sheltered. Fungus problems are not common due to the low humidity. My guess is that this one is weak from general neglect and suffering all sorts of damage. Citrus are not really 'plant and forget' type trees.

It now being after the last frost (isn't it?) I would feed it with "citrus food" or bird manure (dynamic lifter is good) and some trace element mix, and remove the worst damaged parts. Deep water as required and mulch well before summer. If the top is burnt consider how to shelter it in time for next winter.

David

Note: If the resident tree pedant idiot wants to tell us that there is no such thing as "citrus food" because trees don't eat he can find the nearest spiky lemon rootstock shoot and graft it where the sun don't shine. "Citrus food" is what you will find on the pack.

[FarmI]

:-)) Obviously you've never lived there. It's a great place, but don't tell anyone.

Snort! It's never safe to assume there will be no more frosts on the Southern Tableslands till after you know who won the Melbourne Cup. Another month to go yet to be sure, to be sure.

[David Hare-Scott]

1981-4 Kambah

It had all manner of good things including: a stroll down the walkway was a suberb adventure playground along with multiple playing fields, picnic areas etc etc all courtesy of the taxpayer. But no soul.

But you could renovate now and have a good chance that new growth would not be hit, couldn't you?

David

[FarmI]

:-)) You should have tried one of the older suburbs. We lived in Holt for about 7 years then moved to Watson and there was a world of difference between the two. Nappy valley vs a mixed and diverse age group of residents. Since Kambah and Holt would have been of a nearly similar age, I can imagine why you didn't enjoy Kambah. After a few years in Watson, we then moved out to a small rural village and it was similar to living in Watson. We've moved on since then.

You could certainly renovate the lemon tree. Now is an ideal time to do it.

And just to prove my point, we had a filthy frost this morning. All the spuds that had escaped harvesting had started to poke through the ground and while they looked great yesterday, they are all blackened today. I had an elderly chap and his daughter visit my garden today - he had moved here recently from out west. he was complaining about the frost and how it'd done for his recently planted tomatoes.