How to Manage Citrus Scale Insects

Рет қаралды 17,825

4 жыл бұрын

Scale insects can be a real problem for anyone keeping pot grow citrus, especially lemon trees. If left unchecked these little bugs will severely weaken the tree and in extreme cases defoliate and kill it. We show you what the insects look like and tell you how to remove them for health citrus trees and good fruit.

Пікірлер: 39

@user-yt6rt7li6n 2 ай бұрын

I've managed to eliminate the ants on our lemon tree and since doing so, I'm sure the scale insects are not multiplying so prolifically. I filled a large dish with water, then made an 'island' in the middle with an upturned plant saucer. The lemon tree is standing on the island, proud of the water. Within a week, no more ants.. I turn the lemon a quarter turn daily and squash the scales at coffee time! Only found a few scales today.

@gardenerscottageblakeney1316 2 ай бұрын

Thank you for sharing the tips

@dexterrity Жыл бұрын

What avout isopropyl alcohol? pretty sure that kills them

@gardenerscottageblakeney1316 Жыл бұрын

Thank you for the tip

@dexterrity Жыл бұрын

to be clear I got the hard shelled ones on my citrus, and I'm using the iso and cotton buds to physically remove them. Not giving them any chances

@mdml0 3 жыл бұрын

The only way I've been successful in controlling scale is physical removal and bringing the potted tree inside under a grow light but I feel grow lights can't compare to real sunlight. The minute I moved it outside it was covered again with these insects. Neem oil with a bit of soap mixture I made doesn't seem to do anything.

@gardenerscottageblakeney1316 3 жыл бұрын

Thank you for the feedback thats useful to know

@user-hi2uh5gk8k Жыл бұрын

Hello, I treat these bugs with mixture of liquid soap around 5 pumps of the dispenser 20ml 70% alcohol (it can be greater I just got that in hand) and 80ml water. Mix them together add the mix in a spray bottle and spray it over and under the leaves for a few days, after a weak or so repeat the process. The bugs starting to get browner after first spray and get completely brown after second or third spraying. After the bugs are dead I personally like to spray the plant with clean water just to wash out the soap of the leaves.

@LadyLoriofPlants Жыл бұрын

I just tried this treatment, I guess I will continue to treat with this and hope it takes care of it eventually 🤞🏼

@user-hi2uh5gk8k Жыл бұрын

@@LadyLoriofPlants Look... after i treat the plant with that on the next day i am starting to see how the scales go a little brown dot on them and spray the plant again over and under the leaves. Usually they go completely brown and you can remove them just with finger or when you blow on them. If your infestation is so big after the first scales die their eggs will hatch and you will start seeing the scales again spray them before they maturate and that have to remove them drastically if no completely. To prevent the plant from getting the bugs again it is good to spray it once a day or two everywhere just with clean water the scales do not like the moist. I hope i was useful and your plant be ok after all :).

@LadyLoriofPlants Жыл бұрын

Do they live in the soil also? Should I change out the soil? I have a bad infestation and can’t seem to kick them.

@gardenerscottageblakeney1316 Жыл бұрын

We don't bother changing the soil. We think they mainly just hide on the underside of leaves. If anyone knows more please feel to comment.

@EddoPanamenyo Жыл бұрын

Hello, ik this got nothing to do with the video but id like to know whats the size of you lemon pot, im trying to find how small i can go for a new tree

@gardenerscottageblakeney1316 Жыл бұрын

The smallest pot we have ours in is a 6 inch pot for the babies. The bigger your lemon tree the bigger the pot you will need to balance the tree or it will blow over

@EddoPanamenyo Жыл бұрын

@@gardenerscottageblakeney1316 thank youuuuu. And how long could it stay in that pot? Cuz i have some 8 inches pots

@alisonz8480 Жыл бұрын

Just crushed like hundreds on my lemon tree😬 there are also some ants walking around. I wonder if they are their helpers?

@gardenerscottageblakeney1316 Жыл бұрын

Quite possibly

@isaiahshaffer Жыл бұрын

Ants do spread them and “farm” them just like they will do to aphids

@rahulshrama94 Жыл бұрын

Cause insects secrets sugar like substance. Attract ants

@lewis93156 5 ай бұрын

I havent got visible bugs but i have brown spotting up the brances, a sticky residue like glue over the leaves and on the floor around the plot. Its been like this for months, ive started blasting the tree with a hose weekly to wash the entire plant down which renoves it all.. it tends to reform over a week... any help would be hugley appreciated, really worried my plant is dying 😢😢

@gardenerscottageblakeney1316 4 ай бұрын

We are in the same situation as you at the moment we are looking forward to warmer weather and being able to put them outside and let birds do the hard work . If you look closely you can usually find the scale insects in underside of leaves or on branches . They are brown so quite difficult to spot sometimes I’ll post a photo

@gardenerscottageblakeney1316 4 ай бұрын

Ps we’ve done a short showing the insects. I’ll post it up now

@lewis93156 4 ай бұрын

@@gardenerscottageblakeney1316 thank you, since my original comment ive put my plant outside and throghoughly cleaned each branch and leaf with a wet tissue removing the bug like spotting. Ive also done x2 neem oil spray treatment, it seems to have calmed the infestation. Just praying for new growth at this stage

@gardenerscottageblakeney1316 9 күн бұрын

Hope your citrus plant recovered from its infestation

@gardenerscottageblakeney1316 9 күн бұрын

Hope your citrus plant recovered from its infestation

@zaqnaboot1 3 жыл бұрын

pleace what is the suitable insecticides

@gardenerscottageblakeney1316 3 жыл бұрын

None work. Sorry, I mean None.

@mirahenno5298 3 жыл бұрын

Hello, I wonder if you guys can help me out some more... I have a massive plague of these scale insects on my lemontree for 3 summers now. First I tried with a 'bio' spray I bought, fabric made, ofcourse, it didn't work at all... For my next try I mixed water and orange oil and sprayed that on the plant, that helped a lot, but not enough to destroy all of them. This year they are bigger than ever, but my tree also. There is a technique with a mix of water and 70% alcohol, removing them all a cotton bud, that will take hours... I am willing to do this if there is really no other solution, but I heard in this video that after treatment ladybugs will eat the remaining scale insects... I know ladybugs and especially ladybug larves adore greenfly/aphid. But I don't know for sure with scale? Do you guys or someone else here has some experience with using ladybugs as a full treatment against these scale insects? Or experience with big plants/trees and these scale insects? I heard just removing them with soap but that seams unhealthy... Thanks!!

@gardenerscottageblakeney1316 3 жыл бұрын

Hi Mira sorry to hear that you are having problems. We generally pick them off by hand as we try to garden in a wildlife friendly way and avoid pesticides but our lemon tress are fairly small so this is easy for us. We do put them out in garden over summer and this seems to help as the natural predators pick them off. We encourages lots of wildlife into the garden so we have lots of small birds and predatory insects to eat them.

@mirahenno5298 3 жыл бұрын

@@gardenerscottageblakeney1316 I encourage it also in my garden but I seem to be very unique at that in Anderlecht-Brussels ;). The wildlife around my lemontree are mostly these scale insects, my cat and ants. Ants and scale insects help eachother, so I put barriers againts them around my lemontree but I can't stop all the ants, and so: I can't stop all the scale insects. I began a second time with some insecticide spray recently, not happy with it because I also prefer the natural way but I can't find an other working (natural) solution :( ... I would love to test ladybugs/ladybug larves but I am afraid they can't eat the scale insects, only greenfly/aphid, which I (luckily) don't have. You guys have expierence with it/tested this before?

@tigrehermano Жыл бұрын

@@mirahenno5298 hi Mira, did you find any effective method besides the one in the video? I just bought a sprayer bottle and filled it up with alcohol, and sprayed it on the bugs, mostly in all of the tree. but I wonder if it will work, the "heads" of the bugs turned brown but they're still there after a few minutes. I am thinking already of cutting down that tree. but it hurts, it took years to grow.

@mirahenno5298 Жыл бұрын

@@tigrehermano don't cut it down! Mine survived also. I bought mine as a little plant of not even 30cm, now my tree has a stem and is over 1,2m. Since he's got so big he's spending the winter outside last 2,5 years, and I think scale don't like heavy rain, wind, cold,... because there were less and less. I also kept sweeping em off with a wet rag from time to time, but last summer it was SO hot in Belgium, we had multiple weeks over 30°C which we are not used to and suddenly...all the cale were gone and the sticky spots where the scale used to be, had become a dry layer of dirt. I was able to brush these leftovers off by hand! I was so happy. When the plague was heavy I didn't get any lemons (2years). But last summer I got a few 🥹. I think mine just got too big for these little beasts, the scale like green plants but not brown stems I think. So my advice: keep doing WHATEVER works to keep them as much away as possible until your tree is big enough!

@tigrehermano Жыл бұрын

@@mirahenno5298 thank you! hopefully your tree grew resistance or like you say it became too thick for the needle of the scales to suck the sap out... mine it's still thin but here in Coahuila we don't get much rain, just a lot of cold which helped but now they're back... I will try to keep rubbing them off for a couple years and see how it goes. In the end, it's not something you have to do everyday, seems a good clean up lasts a few months. Thanks! I will take your advise.

@faceless9811 10 ай бұрын

Doktor doom spray works for me. One application and they are all dead.

@gardenerscottageblakeney1316 10 ай бұрын

Thank you that’s very helpful I’m not sure it’s available in UK

@rolish3095 3 жыл бұрын

I have two lemon trees in the same condition as yours, last year I literally picked these insects out myself and crushed them, now they have come back again. Its so annoying, I was gonna try spraying soapy water to suffocate the insects,

@gardenerscottageblakeney1316 3 жыл бұрын

We find putting them outside once weather is warm helps then birds help with the pest control