Aphids on my lemon tree

[user1473878824]

Apologies if this is really stupid, this is the first time I’ve had my own garden! I bought DP a lovely little lemon tree for our anniversary and it seems to be doing really well out in the garden (plan to take it in when it gets colder) despite the weather recently.

I’ve just noticed aphids have moved in, the tiny green bastards. Can I use a normal bug spray on them? I know the fruit takes aaaages to get ripe but I don’t want to lace a vodka and tonic with insecticide until DP really annoys me.

I’d also rather avoid anything that’s going to be dangerous to all the bees in the garden. Can anyone offer any advice? Thank you!

Squish them with your fingers. It works better than any spray. Alternatively, a bit of liquid soap with water in a spray bottle dries them out. It has to be done religiously though.

My garden is full of them this year, the only thing that really helped was buying ladybird larvae. It's probably not worth it if you only have a couple of plants that are affected.

Haven’t grown citrus so don’t know how robust it is but I just use a strong spray of water from the hose each day on most of my affected plants. Garden’s 15 years plus mature now and looking good.

Sure experts will be along soon with less laborious ideas though

Congrats on your garden and hope it gives you years of joy.

Killing insects is not cool.

The more bio diverse you allow your garden to be, the less of a problem you will have with "pests".

Ladybirds eat aphids so try to encourage them into your garden. We have zillions because we have a nettle patch they adore.

Thank you all. I did consider ladybirds but I’m not sure we have enough aphids yet.

I saw lots of ladybirds and ladybird larvae on a wild cherry tree the other day - maybe you could bring a few home from a walk and introduce them to the lemon tree?

Do you have many other plants in your garden OP? Aphids spread like wildfire, especially if you have ants.

I'm a newly converted "trust in nature" gardener. I've found that generally where pests go, other insects follow. So my cherry tree was being attacked by black fly/aphids about 6 weeks ago- it was absolutely crawling with them and it was causing the leaves to grow deformed and/or killing them. I got all panicked about it because the tree is only a couple of years old and it was starting to look really dreadful. I wasn't sure what to do about the situation as I didn't want to use pesticides so I kind of just left it and hoped for the best. Last week I noticed that the tree is now completely free of black aphids and the leaves are growing properly again. I don't know what ate them, where they've gone, perhaps they finished their life cycle?!? Who knows.

I've also seen this happen to my Achillea as well, which was covered in green fly last week, to the point they'd actually killed off some flowering stems. This morning I noticed that the plant is covered in ladybirds and the green fly colony had lessened considerably.

Another good way is to shoot them off stems with a blast of water. So when I water the garden I blast as many as possible off stems and leaves with the hose. There is also a recipe that my mum has used that contains peppermint oil and some other ingredients which helped her overcome a black aphid infestation in one of her rose bushes.

@sqirrelfriends

Do you have many other plants in your garden OP? Aphids spread like wildfire, especially if you have ants.

@sqirrelfriends Yep, they seem to have deserted the rose bush they were on but I assumed that was all the rain. We’re waiting to have it done so it’s a jungle at the moment as the previous tenants just left it so I don’t know if that’s part of why we also seem to be slug heaven. I have lots of stuff in pots and something has destroyed a planter box, I assume the huge slugs, and something ATE THE FOUR INCH SHOOT OF DAHLIA I HAVE BEEN LOVINGLY WAITING FOR SINCE AUTUMN.

The hose unfortunately won’t attach to the bloody tap so I’ve bought some spray bottles with a jet to try that.

If ladybird kidnapping is okay I may try that if I see one.

I’d love to just leave things to it to be honest and hope for the best but the lemon tree is sentimental and I don’t want to risk it.

Thank you everyone by the way, love Mumsnet. x

You need to cut off the bits with the aphids otherwise they’ll spread to other areas of the tree.

Ants place them on there and then harvest whatever it is they suck off the tree. So you need this: Fruit Tree Grease 200g www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01BFDQ9KK?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share&tag=mumsnetforu03-21

Put a thick amount around the base of the tree to stop ants from climbing up and placing more aphids. It’s organic so won’t affect the lemons

We had the same issue two months ago on our cherry tree and I had to chop down the leaves/areas affected and used the grease. Worked a treat

Just reapply when it stops being greasy

Oh wow, it sounds like a lot of garden to contend with. I feel your pain with the slugs, they are pure evil. I lovingly tended to 5 dahlias since March, planted them out and they were promptly eaten by slugs. Of the original 5, I have one left which only has about 2 leaves on it.

I've since been told that dahlias are like cake to slugs. Next year they will be in pots.

That’s mad! Thank you will take a look

That should have been to @Greenbks!

OP, hope you don’t mind me asking a few questions about your lemon tree? I have one, it’s indoors in a sunny place. But recently it’s leaves are dropping off! Also it has 5 big lemons that have been green for so long I’m wondering if they are actually limes! How long till I can pick a lovely lemony coloured lemon?! Also, how much/often do you water?

Sorry to hear about your infestation. Last year I had to abandon my pepper plant because it was crawling and I couldn’t get it under control

I second the use of washing up liquid and water in a spray bottle. It doesn't take too many applications before they diminish. I use an eco soap too so hopefully not too much impact on the wider envt. I only treat plants with a heavy burden - if there is a modest amount of aphids/black fly or they are on a prolific plant then I leave them be (for the ladybirds)

@raffle I’m afraid it’s quite new! But I think they take up to a year to ripen which seems insane. I have been giving mine a good soaking when the top inch or two of soil is dry. It seems quite happy apart from the tiny lodgers. If I get any good advice I will let you know!

I had to chuck out a beautiful blue Christmas chilli I had grown from seed last year as it was by a window in my flat and was so utterly covered in bugs I don’t think it stood a chance so I feel your pain.

@Saisong Off to waitrose it is then!

Lemons are not easy they don't like the dry heat of inside the house in winter ( they prefer greenhouses) Not tooo hot though! I bought dh 2 lemon trees for one Xmas they lasted about 3 years (We're in mid Fr.). With no greenhouse.

Oh, just knock off the aphids .

You can get a bug spray specifically for fruit and veg.

I’ve used the jet spray on my mister to evict aphids and all their ant mates. Now looking for copper to put round the top because of bloody slugs.

Gardening is not as relaxing as I first hoped.

@yamadori I had a look but wasn’t sure if you needed something specific for citrus fruit.

@raffle

OP, hope you don’t mind me asking a few questions about your lemon tree? I have one, it’s indoors in a sunny place. But recently it’s leaves are dropping off! Also it has 5 big lemons that have been green for so long I’m wondering if they are actually limes! How long till I can pick a lovely lemony coloured lemon?! Also, how much/often do you water?

Sorry to hear about your infestation. Last year I had to abandon my pepper plant because it was crawling and I couldn’t get it under control

My memory of Portugal is that orange blossom happens in about April, and oranges are ripe from February. So about 10months. I presume lemons are similar

Oh the blossom is by far the best bit of lemon trees, (I love the fruit too of course) they SHOULD fruit and blossom at the same time, and smell soooo gorgeous. Ours managed it for one year. I blame the garden centres, they seem to want to have everything in bloom ALL the year round, so when you have them at home the plants just seem to give up because the conditions aren't what they're used to.

My calamondin was moved into the garden towards the end of May, and started flowering a few days ago. No idea whether it will develop any fruit, I only got it at Christmas.