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Ruby Red grapefruit tree

14 years ago

Hi,

I bought a ruby red grapefruit tree last year and kept it indoors over the winter. Recently it developed many buds and began to blossom. I thought every thing was fine until I noticed that it had developed spider mites and so I sprayed with an insecticidal soap. I no longer see any evidence of the insects, but now I see that the leaves have a whitish cast to them. Is this a permanent problem or just temporary? Even though only a few of the leaves have fallen off, I wonder if there is something else that I should be doing.

Thanks,

James

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Comments (6)

meyermike_1micha
14 years ago
Have you tried to wash the leaves off you sprayed?
Could it be residue?

See if you can post a picture and I bet some one here can tell you right off the bat what it is..;-)

Mike
vettekid
Original Author
14 years ago
Mike,

Thanks for your suggestion. I did try to wash the leaves, but I couldn't tell that it made any difference. I have included some pictures of the leaves and hope that someone can give me some information on what has caused the leaves to have the white blotches and if there is anything else that I need to do.

Thanks!!

James

Here is a link that might be useful: Pictures of leaves with white blotches
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pecanman
14 years ago
Spider mites suck the chlorphyll out of the leaves and give them a bleach out green color. They will be this color until new leaves are grown.
Andrew Scott
14 years ago
Hello James,
Can you try to post this pic to photo bucket? The link is saying that I have to have an account.
Pecanman,
Wow! I have NEVER seen that much damage from spider mites. My gardenia tree had them and the leaves that were the most damaged just dropped off. I had some on a tangerine seedling but I washed them off.
Andrew
vettekid
Original Author
14 years ago
Andrew,

Thanks for looking at these pictures. Hopefully these will show what I have been dealing with. Now that i have applied the insecticidal soap, let me know if there is anything else that I should be doing. Any suggestions will be appreciated. Let me know if you can't see these pictures and I can try something else.

Thanks,
James

Here is a link that might be useful: Ruby Red Grapefruit tree
Andrew Scott
14 years ago
I would think that nitrogen and an acidifer would help. I would try a teaspoon of white vinegar to a gallon of water. Sounds stange but really helps.
Andrew

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