Blood Orange Tree - Losing Health and Bugs (forum)

JonathanJapan starts with ...
Hi everyone,
I am living in Japan and have a Blood orange tree. The temperature here is just warm enough to support one (coldest 'winter' day is about 40F and 'hottest' summer day is about 95F).
The first year, the tree did great. Was healthy and very green and vibrant.
The second year, aphids and other bugs found the tree and had a feast on it.
Now, later in the year, things are yellow, I had poorly developed leaves. You can see the devastation in the photo and the yellowing of the leaves.

Can anyone recommend a good fertiliser and pesticide? I suspect my soil is not the most nutrient packed soil as well. The bugs are the biggest thing though. need a way to keep them away and off the plant.

Thanks!
Pictures - Click to enlarge

Picture: 1
Picture: 2
Picture: 3
Picture: 4

Time: 18th November 2012 2:14pm

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About the Author JonathanJapan
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Brain says...
By the look of the pics, you have red mites - which is causing the discolouration of the leaves. You can get commercial White Oil (or make yourself, do a google), and should be able to get rid of the mites with a few applications of spraying. The trick is to make sure you spray both on the leaves and under the leaves, as well as any branches & trunk. In short, the whole tree, not just once but a few times (within a month) to get rid of them. As it is winter over at Japan, so you shouldn't have problem with sunburn caused by white oil for temps over 30 deg C.

As for fertiliser, the tree is very sick, so any big application of fertiliser will probably kill the tree. I would recommend you hold of fertilising until your bugs are gone and tree is showing signs of recovery. But if you really want to, I would use slow release types or some blood and bone.

If you say your soil isn't great, then it's a matter of trying to improve your soil by adding compost or if you can get your hands on Seasol (people in Aus swear by this stuff).

Good luck



Time: 18th November 2012 3:08pm

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About the Author Brain
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JonathanJapan says...
Thanks Brain!
I didn't think of mites as I didn't feel any of the stickiness or webbing that I've read about on other sites. I guess though it definitely cannot hurt to treat for them. Temps right now are around the 7-10 deg C mark, so definitely won't sunburn.

I assume once the bugs are gone, the leaves will be more vibrate and smooth? (they are kind of rough feeling right now)

Thanks again Brain!

Time: 28th November 2012 1:56pm

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Brain says...
I'm not a critter expert so don't quote me. Aphids will produce the stickness and spider mites will produce small fine webbing. Other mites are just there and suck the sap and reproduce more mites. (I've had them all, so I should know! LOL.) But anyway, white oil seems to be the least toxic way to deal with them and thus recommended as the first course of treatment.

The old leaves will stay as they are, as the discolouration is somewhat permanent. Once the plant grow some new leaves, it will eventually shed the old discoloured ones. So your plant will probably not look its best for a while but at least the new growth will show that it's alive and should remain green if there are no further mites attacks.

Time: 28th November 2012 3:14pm

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Phil@Tyalgum says...
It also looks like you have citrus leaf miner there as well. It is a small moth whose larvae chew through the inside of the leaves, leaving a silvery trail. White (summer) oil is an effective treatment but you won't see much improvement until it develops new leaves.

Time: 28th November 2012 3:35pm

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JonathanJapan says...
Thanks for all the help everyone!
I took a note from a you tube video where a gardener was saying to not be afraid to cut back and get rid of the bad leaves (even if it makes the tree bare)... they will grow back.

So, I as dormant season, I trimmed the branches back 30% and gave it a more bowl shape. I took back most of the leaves and left a few that even though yellowish, they seems the healthiest of the lot.

Spraying has been done for about 4 weeks now, and I have no idea if that has helped or not. As it is now pretty chilly out (5 C) there isn't any noticeable insect activity.

I applied a fertiliser yesterday at the advise of the local gardening shop too.... they gave me a nice organic one (manure mixed with various stuff) of estimated NPK of 7-8-5. I hope that is ok... I see some forums say 10-10-10 slow release... this stuff isn't "slow" as it is all natural. I did notice today the few leaves left seemed greener... but maybe that is just me.

I will continue to spray for a few more weeks (every 2 weeks atm) and take some snap shots to update you guys. Again, thanks for the help everyone!

Brain > I can get seasol here :) it is a little pricey, ($30 AUS for 1 litre). Haven't bought it yet, but maybe in the spring.

Time: 24th December 2012 7:30pm

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Brain says...
Yo Jonathan. IMHO, I would say trim to 3 or 4 main branches, and take 1/3 off each main branch - which is what you've probably done. This should allow sufficient strong points/nodes for the plant to regrow. I would be cautious to take any more of the plant/leaves off, as you just want to encourage the plant to regenerate. As your plant was in a weaken state prior, it may not have enough reserve energy stored so best to leave a bit of leaves, so that it can continue to make energy and recover.

As for fertiliser, I'd go easy as over application tends to burnt new growth. A little continuously helps and when you clearly see signs of new growth and young leaves maturing, then you can probably apply a bit more. At this rate you probably will have to wait for the northern spring.

If the (bad) bugs are clearly gone, I'd hold off the spraying and let the plant settle back into a natural state and balance. With spraying, you kill the bad bugs as well as the good bugs, so I'm of the view that too much intervention may not be a good thing. Just keep an eye out for any webbing and new attacks.

I'm getting a bit of scales attack at the moment and physically remove them by hand. It is only when the infestation gets out of control, then i would resort to spraying. I think I copied this view from Jerry Colby-Williams ABC presenter for Gardening Australia, that is, to be a lazy gardener and do what is necessary and let nature take care of the rest. :)





Time: 25th December 2012 12:03am

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About the Author Brain
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JonathanJapan says...
not sure what happened to my post just now... but here it is again.

The trimming seemed to go ok... attached some pictures to see the progress. I did leave some leaves on it of course, but a lot less than it had before. In the spring when I get new leaves, I may take off these dead-ish leaves as they likely won't fully recover.

Thanks again everyone for the tips! I'll keep posting updates here.

Pictures - Click to enlarge

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Picture: 3

Time: 7th January 2013 2:46pm

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JonathanJapan says...
It's been a hard winter... we have had an usually cold winter. There was more snow falling this year than I have ever seen. All the locals said they have not seen weather like this in most of their life. Normally, we will get a very light dusting of snow once. We had snow for almost an entire month this year! I thought for sure my tree wouldn't survive... but, it is showing signs of life now! New leaves are budding out. I will be monitoring them closely to ensure they stay and don't get eaten up by the bugs this year. I am told that once they get deep green, the bugs won't attack as much (they seem to like bright green) - but I have no idea if this is really true or not. I'll monitor either way. Let's hope that the tree gets good and healthy this year.
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Time: 1st April 2013 4:21pm

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Brain says...
Jonathan, thanks for the updates, I share your joy on your orange tree's survival in the snow and revival. Such low temps normally kill citrus and our north american cousins generally take their plants indoors to keep them alive.

Yes, young leaves are more susceptible to attack but older leaves are not immune. I would also wait for the buds/leaves to grow a bit before any fertilising, as too early (and often too much) will burn the tips of the leaves and even causing leave fall.

Time: 2nd April 2013 10:49am

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JonathanJapan says...
I went outside this morning and checked before I went to work. Sure enough there were visible eggs... T_T

I think I spotted the culprits of the eggs too... they look like flies rather than moths... The eggs were same colour as the new leaves. The eggs are about 1-2 mm in size... so definitely not mite eggs.

This is what the eggs sort of looked like (I don't know if same or not, but looks like this, minus the bug)
http://www.shinkai.info/himuka_blog/W2202187.jpg

I just picked them off (and squished the eggs). I guess I will have to keep a really close eye on the tree.

There are so many bunches of new leaves... I really don't want to lose much this year.

Time: 9th April 2013 2:54pm

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JonathanJapan says...
Just thought I would submit an update. The tree seems to be doing ok. The new leaves are all coming in fairly well. They are curling a bit due to the aphids, but the aphids are no where near as bad as they were last year. Part of this is due to the method of keeping them in check. You can see in some of the pictures a yellow sticky tape. This picks up tons of aphids. I change the tape (there's 3 strips) about 1-2 times a week... and each time changed, the yellow is almost not visible due to the number of bugs on it (not just aphids, but some flies, moths, etc.) It works really well. I'm also using some neem oil to help keep bugs at bay... hopefully no mite attacks this year!

The only thing really at the moment is that the leaves aren't getting that nice deep green. I thought it was maybe fertiliser, but a local gardener took a look and said I applied the right fertiliser and enough of it. He said the leaves will likely not get fully deep green due to some of the aphids and the curl, but there is no harm. If they do green up, it will be later he said. He also said that if the tree does well throughout this year, it is now old enough and likely healthy and strong enough to flower next year! I really do hope so.

I wanted to say thanks to you guys (Brain and Phil) for helping me understand what was going on.
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Picture: 5

Time: 26th May 2013 6:27pm

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JonathanJapan says...
oh... btw, Picture 1 is of my recent addition to the yard... a black cherry tree.

Time: 26th May 2013 6:28pm

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Brain says...
only thing I can add is, as it is summer over there, is to keep the water levels up, i.e. don't let the tree dry out, or the leaves will curl and drop.

BTW, your tree looks great, wish I can say about mine.

Time: 27th May 2013 1:03pm

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