QA Forum

Question & Answer

We are discussing Gardening, Growing and Green Thumbs!
With Brian Walters, Diana O'Brien and Pauline Cornish

Question:
I have a Lisbon Lemon Tree and the fruit is sometimes deformed with multiple fingers underneath. I usually throw those out. What is it, and is there something that I can do to stop this happening. The tree is 40 years old. Location: outer Melbourne, VIC

Answer:
Brian - Deformed fruit with finger like growth is almost certainly citrus bud mite which is a tiny sap sucking insect. Apparently it will not adversely affect the health of the tree. The mites are very small and cannot be seen with the naked eye. A diagram of the little buggers are available on the CSIRO website.

In home gardens the recommended treatment is to remove any infested fruit and if the infestation is heavy, spray with a wettable sulphur.

The downloadable fact sheet, Identifying mites on inland Australian citrus, available from the South Australian Research and Development Institute (SARDI) has further information on all sorts of mites that infest citrus, including citrus bud mite.

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