Let's have a little chat. ;-) Ants can be a pest in southern yards, especially if they are fire ants. By far and way, the best treatment for fire ants is Amdro, a BAIT formulation that is taken down into the very deep chambers by the ants and eventually fed to everyone, including the queen. You only have to use a little bit of Amdro; applying too much at any given time may actually cause the ants to simply move a bit, but won't kill them. If you apply the granules near the mound entrances you can watch the worker ants take them below. If you do decide to try Amdro, read and follow the directions. Other ant insecticides may not do away with the entire mound, but simply be a temporary measure. Malathion is one of the worst pesticides you can use to spray the ants on your trees. Not only is it a darned hazardous substance, but it simply won't address your problem! What are the ants after? Have you inspected your trees for aphids or (more likely) scale insects? Ants feed upon the sugary excrement from these insects and will even defend them from predatory insects and animals. You need to get rid of the aphids and/or scale before the ants will cease to be a problem in the trees. Both aphids and scale insects have soooo many natural predators and parasites that the use of a broad spectrum insecticide is absolute folly. It's been proven over and over again that the use of malathion and similar broad spectrum (meaning it will kill ALL insects, not just the target pest) insecticides cause a population INCREASE of the very pests you are trying to control. Malathion, in particular, is famous for this. Finally, malathion is an organophosphate and a cholinesterase inhibitor. It is a very dangerous chemical. I'd like to partner with you in getting your 'bugs' under control in ways that simply make more sense, both in the long run and the short run. The first step, of course, is finding out just who all of these insects are! The vast, huge majority of insects we come across on a daily basis are beneficial and serve a very important purpose in our own back yards. So! Do you have a camera? Or are you good at describing what you see. I'd like to help.

Great write up. I would like to correct the links since they are broken. This article is from 2013 when GW links were different. Container soils-Water Movement and Retention. Growing with lights Fertilizing Containerized plants

I can't figure out how to post pictures but the picture of citrus canker on leaves of a citrus tree on wikipedia is what the leaves that I removed from my tree looked like. One of the leaves was also dripping this clear sticky liquid. The liquid came from one of the infected leaves and splashed onto three of the other leafs. I am leaving these leaves on the tree to see if they develop the same lesion type things that were on the leaf that dripped on them. (I have gone over this tree with a magnifying glass and have not seen any bugs so I am sure that the clear sticky stuff is from whatever disease my tree has.) The good thing is that the treeÂs health is not spiraling down as fast as it was before I removed the damaged leaves and the dying branches so hopefully it will perk up and start growing. If it is citrus canker then I guess it wont matter if it starts getting better because it will be taken away from me anyway. :( hopefulauthor- Thanks for the advice. I moved my tangerine tree to a different room away from all of my plants. I am hoping that it isn't to little to late since the tree has been dripping stuff that could infect my other trees. Sarah

That is a beautiful greenhouse. I enjoy more sweet flavored citrus (like navels) rather than tart (like grapefruits). But I pretty much love all oranges and mandarins, only like lemons and limes for cooking and aides, and am indifferent toward grapefruit. I love the staple of navels: Washington (aka Parent navel). It however has a wide range of flavor quality depending on where it's grown and especially the night temps during ripening. (As you are probably aware, most citrus, stone, and other fruit tree flavors are largely determined by acid/sugar ratios which are established during cool or chill hours.) I also love the flavor of Clementines -- but they are actually close to tasting and having flesh like mini-navels. I like Satsumas even though they are slightly more tart, however they have extremely juicy with minimal flesh cells and minimal pith, so it really makes up for it. Some Good Resources There is some great reading material, albeit somewhat technical and many times focused on commercial growers, put out from Univ. of Florida extension and Univ. of Calif. extensions. I've seen materials from other states, incl. AZ, TX, and even a couple from WA. Even Kern County here in CA provides good material for our local growing climates. Maybe you can find some for your area. I'm glad to find technical material from these centers because it seems like every book or guide on Citrus are nearly identical and their cursory style is suited for the masses. But with technical material also comes a need for background knowledge and critical thinking particularly in when recommendations are made because of the dissimilarities of their environment and yours. After reading citrus books in the library and at stores, you'll also realize not much more would be learned from that method. So FWIW, Here are some of the online sources I've used to educate myself on citrus. For Florida there is the Univ. of Florida IFAS Extension Site or go directly to their BULLETINS You can google or UF/IAS for the extensions document numbers: HS949 and SP248 that provide some OK rootstock information. Or the Univ. of CA. has a great Free Publications website. And the individual UC shools have their own sites that contain some unique (and many duplicate) articles. UC Riverside and Davis are big into citrus. UC Davis Citrus for Home Orchard This might interest you: Cold Hardy Citrus Myth? for WA A great site that is attempting to house all citrus variety technical information is the UC Riverside Citrus Variety Collection . It's listing is un-paralleled and the major varieties are complete, but many varieties are lacking details. Do with it as you see fit.