I have a lemon tree in my garden in South Africa. The leaves have what looks like a black fungus and also white sticky "cotton" looking nasties. All this is under the leaves. Can anyone help and tell me what to do please?

On 28 Jan, 11:04, Jennifer Sparkes wrote:
Sounds as if it could be Scale Insect/Mealy Bug and Sooty Mould.
Any chance you could post a photo?

Sounds like it indeed. I hate them. I've used soapy water and a sponge
on one of our office plants, delicately removing them, using my nails
if necessary and rising each leaves afterwards. Looked great for a few
weeks but they're back. I'm wondering if they are in the soil (?).

On our acer, it worked well, using a tooth brush and spraying soapy
water. They all went, but this plant was outside. I think it's harder
in greenhouse/indoor.

In article ,
says...

I have a lemon tree in my garden in South Africa. The leaves have what
looks like a black fungus and also white sticky "cotton" looking
nasties. All this is under the leaves. Can anyone help and tell me
what to do please?





Sounds like a mealy bug infestation, if the tree is small enough you can
brush them off using an old tooth brush, but as your climate is a lot
warmer you should be able to use one of the biological controls, you will
have to look locally for information as some of the insects which are
safe for us to use because they die in winter might not where you are.
the most common predator of mealy bug in use is a small brown australian
ladybird.
Are none of your local birds interested?
--
Charlie Pridham, Gardening in Cornwall
www.roselandhouse.co.uk
Holders of national collections of Clematis viticella cultivars and
Lapageria rosea

Anne Jackson wrote:
The message from CarolineC
contains these words:

I have a lemon tree in my garden in South Africa. The leaves have
what looks like a black fungus and also white sticky "cotton" looking
nasties. All this is under the leaves. Can anyone help and tell me
what to do please?

I doubt very much if anyone in *the United Kingdom* has a lemon tree
in their garden... What did you think "UK" stands for?

Do you have broken glass scattered around your garden?

What a cow!
--

huLLy
Tel: 07976 123278

On 28/1/08 15:05, in article ,
"The lowerer of standards G4SDW" wrote:

Anne Jackson wrote:
The message from CarolineC
contains these words:

I have a lemon tree in my garden in South Africa. The leaves have
what looks like a black fungus and also white sticky "cotton" looking
nasties. All this is under the leaves. Can anyone help and tell me
what to do please?

I doubt very much if anyone in *the United Kingdom* has a lemon tree
in their garden... What did you think "UK" stands for?

Do you have broken glass scattered around your garden?

What a cow!

The thing is, Caroline, that gardening in SA and gardening in UK are so
completely different. There have been other responses to your post but Anne
has a point that can help you, too. UK has a totally different climate and
indeed, totally different bugs/problems. While you may well get info that
will help you from a UK group, it's also possible that some of it won't be
relevant to your circumstances. Is there an SA gardening group or would you
like to start one to deal with the fabulous flora of SA?
We grow lemon trees here but not outside and we're in one of the warmest
areas of the British Isles.

--
Sacha
http://www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
(remove weeds from address)
'We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our
children.'

"CarolineC" wrote

I have a lemon tree in my garden in South Africa. The leaves have what
looks like a black fungus and also white sticky "cotton" looking
nasties. All this is under the leaves. Can anyone help and tell me
what to do please?


All Citrus trees are susceptible to Scale Insect which excrete "Honeydew"
loved by ants and on which Sooty Moulds flourish. The white woolly bits on
the leaves and stems are the Scale Insects in breeding phase. If it's not
too big a tree and you don't like chemicals you can spray them off with a
sprayer filled with water with a few drops of washing up liquid. Pump it
right up so it's a powerful jet and start at the top and do every leaf and
stem.
If it's a big tree and/or you don't mind chemicals then go see your local
Garden Centre for something that works on Scale.
They will come back, they always do on Citrus, so it's not a once only job.

This is a UK Newsgroup but don't let that put you off. :-)
--
Regards
Bob Hobden
17mls W. of London.UK

Well. I've got a lemon, orange, kumquat and lime-quat growing outside
here and periodically they get scale infestation that can be followed
by sooty mould. This spreads and is nourished by the sugar-rich
exudate produced by scale insects and mealy bugs. I'll concur with
the remedies already suggested, although in the absence of a natural
predator to deal with the mealy bug, you may have to resort to a
systemic insecticidal spray if the lemon is a large plant/tree.

You will need to check your local garden centres for suitable products
since they are unlikely to be the same as those available in the UK.
Since our climate appears to be getting increasingly milder and now
easily capable of sustaining lemons out of doors in the south at
least, your question is relevant and the problems you've experienced
also occur with UK plants grown under glass anywhere.

"Bob Hobden" wrote in message

All Citrus trees are susceptible to Scale Insect which excrete "Honeydew"
loved by ants and on which Sooty Moulds flourish. The white woolly bits on
the leaves and stems are the Scale Insects in breeding phase. If it's not
too big a tree and you don't like chemicals you can spray them off with a
sprayer filled with water with a few drops of washing up liquid. Pump it
right up so it's a powerful jet and start at the top and do every leaf and
stem.
If it's a big tree and/or you don't mind chemicals then go see your local
Garden Centre for something that works on Scale.
They will come back, they always do on Citrus, so it's not a once only
job.

To add to Bob's excellent post, I would advise that you control the ants
(and there will be ants as they 'farm' the scale insects and spread them).
White Oil will kill the sooty mould and this can be made up at home - dozens
of recipes for it on the Net.

On Jan 28, 8:10 pm, Martin wrote:

Isn;t the problem that Caroline posts to Garden Banter and Garden Banter copies
her posts here without Caroline's knowledge?

Probably true, although I don't see that her post is a problem, nor is
it O/T for here since plants grown under glass frequently suffer from
the same pests. A few months of being pre-occupied with other things
often results in unpleasant discoveries once the attention is re-
focussed

"CarolineC" wrote in message
...

I have a lemon tree in my garden in South Africa. The leaves have what
looks like a black fungus and also white sticky "cotton" looking
nasties. All this is under the leaves. Can anyone help and tell me
what to do please?
CarolineC

Try looking here Caroline :~)
http://tinyurl.com/2ppv5r
Jenny

Thanks. Yes I do live in the Uk, but have a house in SA too.

Thanks for your help. I will try the washing up liquid first!

Actually I live in the UK but have a house in SA too. Thanks.
CarolineC