A Gardeners Forum Forums General Discussion Plant pests and problems Calamondin Orange - scale

Hi Everyone,

I am new to this forum and it took awhile to navigate the garden helper and try to find the person who is knowledge under the sub-group - Pests and how to deal with them.

3 years and it has grow into a larger Citrus Mitis tree so I replanted it 1 year ago. When I bought the tree it was healthy with producing white orange flower blossoms and had about 12 oranges and produced new oranges in it's second year.

When I replanted it things started to go wrong - 1 year ago. Scale, scale and more scale and now healthy leaves are falling off (lost about 1/2 of the tree that it grew into and branches are dying). I put down rocks (1 inch at the bottom for water drainage) and then soil on top to the top (minus 1 1/2 inch from top of container). Plant is South Facing and 1 foot from the window. I live in Vancouver and usually it is fairly warm outside and keep the room inside warm.

I replanted it in a new 12" pot (1 year ago) as I know citrus plants like a wide diameter and the container is 1 foot in width and 1 foot in height to allow for it to grow. I planted it using Sterile Potting Soil and have been using Miracle Gro (Phosphate 7%, Nitrogen 8% and Potash 6%). The soil is all purpose soil for indoor plants. I keep the house at 20 degrees C normally (68 degrees F)for this type of plant.

I water the plant once a week with 1 litre of water and also add the Miracle Gro. I am concerned as I want to keep this plant. I have gone to my local plant nursery and asked two nurseries and they do not know what else to do(in business for over 30 years) and they recommended Neem Oil and if that didn't work End-All. I have tried both Neem Oil (gave the plant a break for a few weeks) and then tried End-All. Both times the scale retreated and then came back more abundant than the last time. In the summer of 2008, I took it outside (since it was warm and large plant) and hosed it down with water to get the scale off (bath to get the scale off). More than half the leaves came off from the pressure and the scale returned.

I am afraid to replant it and do now know what to do. And in the last year there has been NO more blossoms or NO oranges so I think it has something to do with the replant and the scale (that I never had before). Please help.

Thanks,
Rose1

Discontinue the use of Miracle Gro and all fertilizer. Allow the soil to dry out between waterings. Use Plant Sheen, the light oil that is used to make leaves glossy, dillute to half strngth if that is mentioned anywhere on the container. Don't worry about flowers or fruit right now, but do apply the oil to stems and underside of leaves. You are overfertilizing, for one thing, and probably over watering. Be careful not to burn leaves by using oil and then immediately allowing full mid day sun to hit leaves, they could scorch. Your problems are all from too much pampering, even the lack of flowers and fruit, but flowering now would further stress the plant,...even if you don't use gloss oil, you should see some return to health just cutting back on water, and eliminating Miracle Gro except for use every 6 weeks or so, at half strength.

The reason the scale is "coming" back is because when you are applying the oil you are not getting 100% coverage. As long as you leave one female untreated she will have more crawlers (babies) that will then spread.

Neem oil will work and does work. I work with commercial growers in FL and we use neem oil for scale and works great but you must get coverage. i would not use the End-All product because it has Pyrethrins and they are not the best control method for Scale, oils and soaps are.

With oils keep in mind it may take 1-2 months before the dead scale dried up so when you squish them some dead ones may still be juicy.

I will keep on it with the neem oil on stems and undersides of the leaves.

Also I do not nor like Miracle Gro because salts can build up in the soil with continued use.