United Kingdom
My potted lemon tree was brought into the conservatory for te winter as I have done in 2 previous years, it spends the summer oustide in the sun where it produced 7 lemons last year. this winter the lemon tree looks very unhappy with brittle leaves which sometimes respond to watering. However it is now pruducing some very sticky residue on the fruit (now picked) and concervatory floor and today I notuie a white 'webbing' on one of the newly discarded leaves. Can you help please - does it have some hideous disease - no sign of any bugs around the leaves or compost.
- 27 Jan, 2017
Answers
The webbing likely indicates spider mite, but the stickiness means something else, probably as well as spider mite. Soft scale is common on citrus plants, especially indoors, and they produce loads of sticky honeydew which does drip off onto the plant itself, the fruits and, in your case, the floor. Spider mite in the UK is only a problem indoors - they like warm dry air, so misting the leaves of your plant with water will deter them.
Because its a citrus plant and produces edible fruits, you're really restricted to organic treatments - see link below for guidance, but something like Bayer Organic Pest Control should tackle both problems, but repeat treatments will likely be necessary, following the instructions on the bottle
https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profile?PID=788
27 Jan, 2017
Lemon trees love a warm moist environment (like Florida). I suspect the atmosphere in your conservatory is hot and dry. This would explain the leaves becoming brittle. One solution is to install a humidifier. This would greatly benefit your lemon tree and everybody else.
28 Jan, 2017
Previous question
Take a very close look to see if there is anything crawling on that webbing (might need magnifying glass), it could be spider mites infesting your tree. If so, you will not only have to treat the tree but throughly clean the whole conservatory. Since you are in the U.K. the GOY flagship members will tell you with what you should treat the tree with and what you can clean the conservatory with that is available in the U.K.
27 Jan, 2017