southlatropical

I always wanted to plant some citrus around the yard. I picked up a satsuma, chandler pummelo, variegated lemon, and blood orange.

The pummelo has this leaf damage only on this one branch. Any Idea what caused the damage? Should I just snip it off?

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southlatropical

The satsuma has this leaf damage on just a couple of leaves. Looks like an insect/worm did this.

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Bananaman88

Isaac,

The leaf damage is from the citrus leafminer. It looks unsightly but normally isn't damaging to the tree, especially once they get older. You can spray your trees with a product containing Spinosad, which will help to control the leafminer. It has to be done each time a new flush of foliage come out. I bought mine as a concentrate at Wal-Mart a couple of years back. I think the brand is Green Light but you may find others as well. It is a biological agent and isn't harmful to the environment.

southlatropical

Thanks for the info. I know nothing about growing citrus. I'm going to have to do some research. I plan to leave these in pots at least until next fall. Do these four varieties require pretty much the same conditions and care? Will the lemon survive here?

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D_&_T

We found these doing some research, as we bought a citrus tree this summer! We need to learn how to care for it inside during the winter.

citrus leafminer - Phyllocnistis citrella Stainton
Citrus leafminer spreading

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lorax

All of my established citrus trees (and I have about 100) have leafminer, and it doesn't seem to affect their fruiting or whatnot. I generally just pinch off the worst leaves and burn them in the yard wastes.

As for indoor citrus growing, I have not the faintest clue. However, it seems to me that in Zone 9 they'll be OK outdoors. Just mulch and burlap them for the chilliest part of the winter. I'm not sure about the lemon, though; mine tend to get grumpy around 8-10 centigrade. Even so, if it were me I'd keep them inside this winter and plant them out next spring once the temps start getting reasonable.

D_&_T

If they get grumpy at 8 to 10C, bet they would be really upset at negative 24.5C(-12F), which was our low for at least 2 weeks straight last winter!!

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lorax

OOH, Yuck. No wonder I moved to the tropics... My hometown is -30C right now under about a meter of snow.

Lagniappe

There's a lady way up here in North Louisiana that keeps al of her lemons unprotected. I asked her what type of rootstock she used and she told me they were all from seed ! She was very busy at the time and I only asked her because she was giving a pot of seedlings to a friend that had stopped in to the store where she works. I'll be sure to get the full story later on. I tried to talk to her on the way to church Sunday morning but my wife was in a hurry to get there.

I kept my washington oranges indoors last year, in front of a South facing window. They bloomed and filled the house with that intoxicating citrus perfume that is my favorite smell of all !

I broke down and bought a Moro Orange at a fruit stand / nursery in Abbeville last month (Actually, in Kaplan). I stop at all of those wonderful places when I travel,you never know what you'll find or what kind of bargains you'll stumble onto.
Next year, I'll brave it and plant them all out in the yard.

I have a customer and friend in Ferriday ,La....way North of you , who keeps all types of lemons,grapefuit, and oranges in her yard. If I were in Fordoche, I would have a regular orchard growing

southlatropical

In the little bit of reading I did today the lemon was the only one mentioned as being sensitive to frost. It may end up in the bed on the south side of the house where there is almost no frost during winter. The others should all be fine especially satsuma which is very common around here. I got the pummelo and variegated lemon from a fruit stand I used to work at in high school. Their plants were bigger and cheaper than the ones I got on sale at the nursery. Wish I had just gone there first. Growing these in pots until they get bigger is going to protect them from my kids just as much as the frost. My 3 and 4 yr olds can be destructive at times.

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Bananaman88

Yes, your lemon is the most frost sensitive of the one's you bought. You may have to protect any and all of them if you get temps below freezing. Kumquats and satsumas are the most cold hardy and limes and lemons are the most frost sensitive. Good luck with your plants.