Originally Posted by Bob Hobden

"michael adams"wrote after...

"debbie asked
i have a 12 year old meyer lemon tree, bought it last year, we have it
in our conservatory, south facing
at the moment we have 6 yellowish lemons & 3 green ones on it, about
150 flowers on it with dark green leafs too, though the odd dried up
curly leaf has fallen, i do the water testing with a finger,
but ive just noticed on some of the stems is what looks like very small
cotton buds? i used a cocktail stick to gently remove it & it pulls away
in long threads, its like holding cotton between your fingers &
stretching it?
ive also now noticed its also on the top of the lemons where its
attatched to the branch, what is this?
please help as i cant find anything to do with this in my books

Most likely mealy bugs. The insects may be covered in a white
cotton wool like substance, although they can come in other
colours as well.

There are pictures of the insects on here.

http://www.biopol.nl/UK/MealyBugs.htm

The standard remedies include dabbing them with methylayted
spirit, while others claim a soapy insecticide - i.e
dilute washing up liquid can work. More info on here -

http://ipmofalaska.homestead.com/files/mealybugs.html

Mealy bugs can be a particular problem on citrus and it's most
likely your plant was already hosting eggs when you bought
it last year. They can be a real problem if allowed to get
out of hand, and so regular inspection, especially the underside
of leaves, and treatment where necessary, is advisable.

Could also be Scale Insect at the breeding stage but in that case you would
see the old brown scales within the woolly stuff.
Scale Insect is probably the most common Citrus infestation. Certainly is
with me, and I just blast it off with a sprayer pumped up to max filled with
Bio Insecticide (made from Rape Seed Oil).

--
Regards
Bob
In Runnymede, 17 miles West of London