Whitefly– It is not difficult to detect the pest: as soon as you touch a leaf, the whiteflies immediately flutter up and fly to other leaves (plants).
In places of damage caused by individual individuals, faintly noticeable small yellowish spots form, but with mass reproduction, the whitefly greatly inhibits the lemon, which affects vegetative and generative development: leaves turn yellow and fall off, shoots dry out, and fewer fruits are formed.
If there are a lot of pests, then they pollute the leaves with their sugary secretions, which, in turn, settle on sooty fungi, which impede the processes of photosynthesis and respiration, which inhibits the normal development of plants.
Aphids- With the help of a proboscis, aphids suck juices from the tissues of leaves, stems, and buds. Damaged leaves curl, become deformed, partially or completely die, buds do not open or produce ugly flowers. The ends of the shoots may become bent, and if severely damaged, they stop growing.
Prevention.
Thrips– small mobile insects with an elongated body (length 0.9-1.5 mm) dark brown, with two pairs of membranous wings fringed with long hairs. The pest lays eggs in the leaf tissue; after 8-10 days, light yellow larvae emerge and damage the leaves by sucking out the juice. As a result, the upper side of the leaf blade acquires a silvery sheen, physiological processes are disrupted, and the plant loses its decorative effect. If the infection is severe, the leaves become discolored and fall off. On lemon and other citrus crops in rooms, greenhouse and tobacco thrips are most often found.
Control measures are the same as against spider mites.
– Adult insects and larvae damage indoor lemons. Pests give preference to young, recently emerged fruits, therefore, from the moment the ovaries appear, mealybugs immediately strive to colonize them, accumulating and creating colonies on the amniotic cup, on the stalk, mainly on those parts that face the inside of the plant. Often, scale insects destroy the cells of the fruit stalk through numerous punctures, as a result of which they dry out and the fruits fall off. In places where insects accumulate, the peel of lemons becomes deformed, cracks, and the fruits rot, and the remaining ones lose their marketable quality (yellow-brown spots appear on them).
In the absence of fruits, the pest settles on buds, young leaves and shoots, as a result of which the leaves become chlorotic, normal development is disrupted, the tree noticeably weakens and may dry out.
The same measures are used against pests as against spider mites or aphids.
– immobile insects, most often attack weakened plants. Pests on the surface are covered with dense waxy secretions and resemble scales of various shapes. The first sign of the appearance of scale insects and false scale insects is the appearance on the leaves of a sticky sweet liquid, on which sooty fungi subsequently develop.
Control measures- manual collection, chemicals and other available means.
Potted lemons may pose a certain danger earthworms, which fall into a container with fresh soil mixture.
You can see them after watering, when they crawl to the surface of the earth. They penetrate the soil with their passages: the roots of the lemon, in contact with the air, quickly become covered with a cork layer and can no longer absorb water and nutrients. Young plants with an insufficiently developed root system are most sensitive to the activity of worms.
Speaking about lemon pests, it is worth mentioning poduras and sciarids.
Fools– small white jumping insects that live in the top layer of soil, sciarids– mosquitoes (about 1mm long). They usually do not cause much damage to adult plants; their appearance usually indicates that the soil is waterlogged and plant debris is rotting in it.
However, the larvae of these insects can pose a serious threat to germinating seeds and developing seedlings as they feed on growing roots. In this case, the young leaves quickly turn yellow and dry out, and then the plants themselves die.
You can also pour a 2-3cm layer of sand on top of the soil layer into the pot.
Spider mites on indoor lemons are a very dangerous and common pest. This insect is very small size, almost invisible to the naked eye, so it is very difficult to identify and take timely measures to eliminate it. It feeds on the sap of the plant, its activity leads to starvation of the plant, drying out and falling of the leaves.
Spider mites feed on sap from a plant leaf
How to deal with spider mite on indoor citrus plants? What are the effective methods for treating homemade lemon and tangerine against ticks, how to prevent infection - we will share our experience. Evidence of activity spider mites on lemon leaves- the appearance of yellow dots, yellowing of the tips of the leaves, curling of the leaves. In the later stages of infection, cobwebs may appear, initially single stripes, and in advanced cases, entire nests inside curled leaves.
This is what a spider mite looks like on a leaf under slight magnification.
Spider mite, description and photo
Spider mite - arachnid, ranging in size from 0.3 to 0.6 mm, depending on gender and fatness. Has 6 or 8 legs. Homemade lemons are most often inhabited by red insects and their dark green larvae. They move very slowly and most often live on back side leaf plate, but sometimes they can be found on the outer one. To the naked eye they can be identified as small red dots.
Spider mite on the back of the leaf, barely visible to the naked eye
Many lemon diseases at home are dangerous, some are completely incurable. And in order not to lose your citrus, you need to know how it can become infected and how it can be saved from harm.
One or a combination of several of the following factors can lead to the disease.
Captures entire areas of young green twigs, preferring the most delicate shoots
Video about diseases indoor lemon
The fight against it, depending on the number of insect colonies on your citrus, is different. If there are only a few aphids, it is enough to crush them manually, cutting off the affected areas and unscheduled fertilizing of the lemon tree with complex fertilizers. At large quantities Insecticides such as diazmnon are used to treat lesions. Spraying with garlic infusion helps very successfully. To do this, 7-8 heads are cleaned, crushed, infused for a day in a bucket of water, decanted and our product is ready.
Replacing diseased soil with subsequent calcination of the infected soil helps against root aphids. And we dip the plant in a solution of a contact insecticide or, again, an infusion of garlic, only we take the concentration of the latter half as weak.
Replacing diseased soil followed by calcination of the infected soil helps prevent root aphids.
How to deal with it? Just like with aphids: spraying with garlic water, insecticides and soapy water. Take 2 tablespoons liquid soap, dilute it in a liter of water and treat the affected areas. After an hour we give it to the plant good shower rinsing soap from foliage. Repeat after two or three days.
Spider mites on lemons, like aphids, love young leaves. Its presence is noticeable due to the characteristic cobwebs clinging to the curled leaves. The mite settles on plants that grow in very dry rooms. It does not tolerate humidity. Therefore, we generously spray the diseased citrus with a one percent solution. boric acid. Sometimes a single procedure is enough to kill the tick, but if the enemy does not give up, we repeat the spraying after 4-5.
It should also be remembered that protection against insects and ticks helps prevent viral, infectious diseases, some of which penetrate into tissues with the saliva of aphids or scale insects.
Spider mites on lemons, like aphids, love young leaves
Citrus infections
We will talk about diseases of a bacterial, fungal and viral nature. Many of them are quite easy to treat, some are difficult, and many viruses are incurable. The result of lemon weakening due to improper care or damage from insect pests is often fungal attacks, such as sooty fungus, which leads to even greater weakening, drying out, and a sharp slowdown in growth.
This scourge is easily recognized by the coating in the form of ash on the leaves and branches. It's easy to get rid of it - just rinse the wood thoroughly under warm shower using a dish sponge. In the meantime, the room where the infected citrus grows needs to be well ventilated.
Scab is also fungal in nature. It manifests itself as putrefactive lesions of leaves, fruits, and branches. The spots darken and soften. Affected foliage and fruits fall off. Its spores are carried by the wind or insects. The best way to fight scab is through prevention. In the spring we treat the plant with two percent solutions of copper and iron sulfate. If signs of disease are detected, we remove and destroy all diseased areas. And we treat the lemon itself with a five percent solution Bordeaux mixture or the drug Strobilin.
Another fungus is wart. The name speaks for itself. Wart-shaped growths appear on the leaves. Destroys the annual growth of greenery and fruit harvest, greatly weakening your citrus fruits. We fight it the same way we fight scab.
The best way to fight scab is through prevention.
Most often, the answer to the question of why lemon fruits fall off is scab or warts.
Infectious diseases are more difficult to treat. The most common among them are gommosis and root rot. Gommosis is expressed in rotting, cracking of the trunk bark, and gum formation. This greatly weakens the plant and sometimes leads to the death of the above-ground part. Two preventive rules are very effective against gommosis:
- We do not bury the root collar, otherwise the risk of stem rotting increases many times over.
- Watering the plant warm water– there is no need for unnecessary stress on the roots.
Root rot is similar to gommosis, but only affects the roots. Signs include wilting of leaves, drying out of entire branches, general weakness, and premature leaf fall.
Video about helping lemon
We fight as follows:
- We remove the plant from the pot, clean the roots from the soil
- We sterilize the contaminated soil by calcination, and pour new soil into the pots.
- Cut off rotten areas with a sharp knife
- Place the roots in a pink solution of potassium permanganate for an hour.
- Remove, lightly dry, and dust the cut areas with wood ash.
- We sit in new soil without deepening the root collar.
- We carefully monitor the plant and fertilize it more often.
And viral diseases of indoor lemon are incurable.
Of these, the most common are leaf mosaic, expressed in the form of pale cobweb patterns on the foliage, and cancer. Cancer looks like scab or rot, but the fruit and tree rot as if from the inside, burning out. Such plants must be destroyed before they infect others.
Indoor plants bring harmony to the home, create a healthy atmosphere, improve environmental friendliness and decorate the interior. For green pets, winter is a real serious test. Dry air provokes various diseases. On indoor plants an uninvited guest may appear - a flower mite that envelops the leaves in a thin web. The leaves turn yellow, dry out and fall off. On the back of the leaf you can see tiny dark dots; these are not bumps of earth.
If you look at them through a magnifying glass and poke them with a toothpick, the “mump of earth” will run! This means that there are spider mites on indoor flowers - very dangerous pest. Indoor flowers suffer from the common spider mite. Plants that are affected by the pest become sick, and the color of the leaves becomes pale. Spider mites on flowers feed on the sap of leaves and over time, the spots on the leaves increase in size and quickly merge into large pale yellowish areas. If the damage is severe, the flowers die.
What to do if a spider mite appears on indoor plants, how to get rid of the pest? To save flowers you need to find out complete information about the pest.
Ticks are not insects. They belong to a separate group of invertebrate animals, the class arachnids. There are more than 50 thousand species of ticks. Of these, 1250 are spider mites. They are the ones that harm indoor, garden and agricultural plants. They live on all continents. You can read the article that describes
Common types:
- Red spider mite. Amazes garden plants, found in flower beds and vegetable gardens. Red spider mites are especially active in cold weather: spring and fall.
- The red-legged spider mite causes serious damage to almost all indoor flowers: roses, lemons, orchids and others ornamental plants. High temperatures make females especially fertile.
- The Turkestan spider mite harms tomatoes, cucumbers and indoor plants.
- The common spider mite is considered the most common pest. It affects more than two hundred different plants. If the fight is not started in time, it quickly spreads to neighboring plants.
Basic information about the common spider mite
Belongs to the genus True spider mites, which includes more than 40 various types. Ticks are small in size, which depends on nutrition. Males reach a length of 0.3 - 0.45 mm. Females are slightly larger, their length is 0.4 - 0.6 mm. Soft-bodied animals have an ellipsoidal body shape, with a convex bottom. The larvae of the pest are light green or greenish-brown in color. Adults have eight legs, larvae have six. In winter, females turn bright orange or bright red.
Reproduction of ticks
Several generations live in the web they create. Ticks multiply at tremendous speed. Fertile females lay many round eggs. At first they are almost transparent, but after a while they become yellowish cloudy. The rate of embryo development depends on temperature. At +15 degrees - 15 days, at +30 - only two to three days! The full cycle occurs: from 30 to 36 days, if conditions are unfavorable, from 7 to 8, if conditions are good.
It becomes clear that the fight against spider mites on indoor plants should begin as early as possible. At low temperatures and high humidity larvae slow down their development. As conditions improve, mass infection occurs. Considering that spider mites quickly move to healthy plants, you need to know how to get rid of the mite in order to prevent the mass death of green pets. What harm do spider mites cause? When damaged, the plant becomes weak.
Signs of plant damage:
- the underside of the leaves is strewn with small dots;
- the entire plant or individual parts are intertwined with cobwebs;
- in case of severe damage, swarming pests can be seen in the web.
Spider mites carry:
- viral infections;
- gray mold spores.
Fighting spider mites
If there are spider mites on indoor plants, how to fight them, taking into account the development and wintering characteristics of the pest? How to get rid of mites on indoor plants most effectively? First of all, it is necessary to take preventive actions.
The main thing in prevention is maintaining high humidity; ideal conditions for pest reproduction are dry and warm.
It is also necessary to collect fallen leaves, remove faded flowers in time, feed with potassium and phosphorus fertilizers, spray or bathe plants in the shower. Be sure to quarantine new plants and always sterilize the soil.
Methods of struggle with folk remedies:
- treat the plants with water and laundry soap;
- irradiate once every 7 days ultraviolet lamp 1.5-2 minutes;
- spraying: infusion of onion, dandelion, tobacco, cyclamen tubers, pyrethrum or wormwood.
Save the rose and lemon
Which plants most often suffer from pest attacks? And if a mite appears on indoor flowers, how to get rid of the pest? The domestic rose is very susceptible to this scourge. What drugs to use, how to get rid of spider mites on a rose to prevent mass infection?
"Neoron" is a universal drug that will help destroy adults and larvae.
Just two steps are enough and the spider mite is gone indoor rose will disappear. The drug "Fitoverm" also works effectively. You can process the plant even indoors. As a rule, after five days the mites disappear.
How to destroy spider mites on roses, how to deal with them if the rose has been massively infected. The most effective remedy is the drug "Actellik". It must be remembered that the product is very toxic! It is better to carry out processing in a well-ventilated area and protect the skin of your hands.
Lemon is also susceptible to spider mite infestation. This is a delicate plant, therefore, spider mites on lemon, affecting young leaves and immature shoots, bring big problems to it. Lemon quickly becomes ill and may die.
If there are spider mites on a lemon, how can you fight it so that the tree doesn’t disappear? There are several ways:
- Spray with sulfur.
- Treat the plant for 1-2 minutes with a special ultraviolet lamp for 1.5-2 minutes.
- Wipe the leaves with a cotton swab moistened with a 96% alcohol solution.
- Use 35% Sulfarid paste. Treat the tree 3-5 times. You cannot treat with Sulfaride paste during flowering and at the stage of fruit set.
What is the most effective remedy for spider mites on indoor plants? Unfortunately, there is no such remedy to destroy all pests at once. As a rule, it is necessary to do not one, but several treatments before all the mites are destroyed.
Popular chemicals for pest control
The mite is an arachnid and insecticides are not used to kill it. It just doesn't make sense. Acaricides and insectoacaricides help get rid of ticks.
An excellent remedy is Fitoverm against ticks. Plants can be treated even indoors. Plants are sprayed 3-4 times, maintaining an interval of 7 to 10 days. The drug has low toxicity. But it is still necessary to comply with safety requirements: after treatment, thoroughly wash your hands, rinse your mouth and change clothes.
Actellik - very effective remedy. Toxic. Kills ticks almost immediately. It is recommended in cases where other drugs do not help, that is, in case of mass lesions. Carry out processing only outdoors. Actellik is a toxic agent. When processing, you must take all precautions and take care of your pets.
Neoron is an acaricide that kills adult ticks and eggs. Two treatments are enough.
I was struck by a dangerous parasite - scale insects.
Lemon scale, description and photo
Scale insects (Diaspididae) are small insects measuring 0.5-5 mm from the order Hemiptera.
The insect received its name for the dense shield that covers its body. Scale insects have pronounced gender differences. Females lack legs and wings, and often also eyes, but this is compensated by a powerful protective shell that helps them survive scale insects on your homemade lemon and tangerine, it would seem, even when all the methods of combating it have already been used.
Scale insects on a lemon leaf are often located along the nutrient veins
Males are slightly smaller in size, they have normal legs and one pair of wings, a flat, slightly elongated carapace and an underdeveloped mouthparts. The fate of the males of this pest is really not to be envied - after the act of mating they die. Female scale insects can be found much less often than males and they are completely motionless. It’s not at all sweet for males - they search for a long time, but once they find it, then all their lives are over.
There are many varieties of scale insects, almost all of which harm various plants. These insects are prolific and reproduce quite quickly. These insects feed on plant sap, which they drink from different parts trees.
Adult scale insects with shell on plant trunk
Why is scale insects dangerous?
Scale insects on indoor plants, as a rule, entail significant troubles to combat it. are no exception. In the process of feeding this insect with the juice of stems, leaves and fruits lemon tree, damage appears on them with characteristic spots (yellowish or red-brown). Over time, it turns completely yellow or brown, and subsequently dries out and falls off. The tree stops growing and the leaves fall off. If measures are not taken in time, the entire tree may wither and die. The fruits of the plant may also suffer: the ovaries fall prematurely, the flowers dry out.
During their life, scale insects produce honeydew, a sweetish liquid. By covering the leaves, it disrupts the processes of photosynthesis and respiration of homemade lemon.
This liquid is also favorable environment for the propagation of sooty fungus.
methods of infection
Scale insects can get into the apartment along with infected flowers from the store, planting material(ground). Larvae can be carried in by the wind through open windows.
It is also important to keep in mind that these insects primarily attack weak or diseased plants. Therefore, it is worth keeping such trees separately from healthy ones.
Signs of lemon scale infection
By what signs can you understand that your infected with scale insects?
At the larval stage, these insects are difficult to detect, since they are small and move quite quickly. Adult insects are easy to see with the naked eye. They look like brown or light brown round scales on leaf blades or trunks.
Signs on a lemon leaf affected by scale insects
If there are too many scale insects on a citrus fruit, they accumulate along the veins of the leaves, so they seem to be covered with a coating.
Another sign of a homemade lemon being infected with scale insects is sticky, sweetish spots of liquid on the leaves. Sometimes there can be so much of it that it begins to flow down from the leaves.