Can anyone help my orange tree?

[aly]

My poor orange tree is sick and I'm hoping there might be an easy fix. My work hours have been crazy, so I haven't gone to a nursery for help yet. I'm hoping someone here might know what I have going on... and how I can fix it.

Here are some pictures of the problem. There is white stuff on a bunch of the leaves (now ants are on there, too). Also, the bark on one limb started peeling and then fell off and the wood is funky underneath. It's gross. I have some growth on the worst limb, so I'm really hoping I don't have to amputate! Thanks for any help!!

[malkin]

Ew! I'd guess mildew, but I'm far away, and havent had orange trees for 20 years. *sigh*
Can you take a leaf to a local garden store?
A real old fashioned place, where people know stuff and are helpful.

[channlluv]

The white stuff looks like white fly eggs/poo, which I'm hoping the ants are eating. Does it grow fluffy in places, like cotton candy that didn't get swirled right? If so, that may be what it is. I don't know if they cause that rotted looking damage, though.

The treatment here was blasting the flies with the water jet for several minutes each day to destroy the eggs. Took a while, but they're gone, finally.

Roxy, who has lost a couple of hibiscus to white flies (where the plants did grow a black mold in addition to the white fluff)

[aly]

I think I might leave work early one day and try. I've already let it go on longer than I should have. It's a really nice little tree, I would hate to lose it. The leaves are so disgusting!

[channlluv]

That torn-away bark exposing the wood actually looks like termite damage to me. I just took out an asian pear tree that had that kind of damage. When I pulled out the stump, there were termites all in it. It was gross.

I hope yours isn't termites.

Roxy

[kermit]

It looks like an infestatation of white fly. If that is the case you will need to get it sprayed to save it and you cannot eat the fruit for one year. My neighbor had the same problem with his citrus trees. Call a nursery and take a leaf in maybe they can recommend something.

[OakLeaf]

I don't really know anything but I can tell you what our gardener told us. We have a tangerine that we've been working very hard to save - long story but it's finally on the road to recovery. We had simultaneous infestations of whitefly, scale and aphids for more than a year.

Remember that infestations begin initially as a SYMPTOM of an unhealthy tree. You'll need to treat the infestation, but you'll also need to address whatever was wrong with your tree to begin with.

In our case, it was too much damp (brought on by our former gardener planting too many other plants nearby and mulching the whole bed). Citrus need their roots to be dry between waterings, like cactus. This means well-drained soil, NO mulch, and NO other plants or grass nearby.

Lacewings are a good biological control for all of the above infestations.

Ants are not destructive in themselves, but they're a marker for the presence of other insects, particularly aphids.

We tried knocking the insects off with water spray, but that has a downside when you're trying to keep the roots dry! And you really do have to do it every day to control the insects. When all else failed on the aphids we used insecticidal soap (1 tbsp Dr. Bronner's in a quart of water). It was VERY effective and obviously it's non-toxic to mammals and birds. Of course any broad-spectrum insecticide is a last resort, since it will kill the beneficials along with the destructive insects. But I wouldn't worry too much about whether the fruit would be edible as a result of the insecticide, since a tree that badly damaged probably won't set fruit this year anyhow.

[bmccasland]

Have you tried your county extension agent? Whatever the Land Grant University is in your area will have an extension service. Just do a Google search for your county extension service. They'll have a gardening section. The universities provide a lot of service to area farmers, and if you have issues with one tree, I'm certain orchard growers have had the same problem with lots of their trees.

[aly]

Thanks for all your help. I'm planning to take a leaf to a nursery soon. Unfortunately, I'm betting termites and Whitefly. I don't want to use anything toxic, if I don't have to, since the tree is full of fruit and we have been so excited waiting for it. I'm hoping we can salvage some of it. We just bought the house and don't have a gardner so this is all new and lots of guesswork. However, we did notice that the corner with the tree has some issues with water leaking from an old water feature that was supposed to be disconnected. Maybe that has caused the problems. I guess these are the joys of homeownership that I heard so much about.;)

I'll let you all know what I find out!!