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New Flush on Blood Orange Trees

8 years ago

After much struggling my 3 month ,in the ground semi dwarf trees, are starting to flush out. The Cara Cara looks to be developing blooms as well as leaves.

Thanks for your expert advice goes out to many of you for allowing this to happen.

Extremely nervous that the bugs are going to just tear this new flush to pieces as we are in or approaching leaf miner season out here in So. Cal. Aphids, scale and mites are common.

What would be best for me to protect this long awaited new flush from these critters so my trees can continue to thrive? Do I dare spray with my usual spinosad+oil mix? Should I use a weaker solution? Soap? Afraid of using anything harsh that will hurt these young fragile trees.

Comments (2)

johnmerr
8 years ago
I treat my trees with ISD (Imidacloprid Soil Drench) twice per year; it is a systemic insecticide that kills whatever sucks on or eats the leaves, while not harming the beneficials. The leaf miner, and some other leaf eaters will still cause some minor damage before the systemic kills them; but that is the trade off.
PKG
Original Author
8 years ago
Thanks John. I was thinking that Bayer with Imidacloprid would be a last resort if I could not get something less potent to work. I would be willing to go your route and probably save a lot of time and trouble with trying the organics. Do you think that this Imidacloprid would be safe for these two trees as they were previously water stressed and have dropped a lot of leaves?
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I believe they are grafted. The trees look super healthy. Had a problem about 4 months ago with scale but it's been taken care of and the trees really look good. Is it possible that the fertilizer is working to promote new growth - which is abundent, instead of promoting fruit growth and if so, is there anything I can do? This tree is like my third child, it gets so much attention :)
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Hello Nick, I don't know if it eould be suitable or not for outdoor planting. I would think you would be okay if your temps didn't go below freezing or if they do if they only fall below slightly and for a short period of time you should be good to go. I know the redness of the fruit is dependent on cool temperatures while ripening. I am not sure if it is nightime coolness or not. I have a dwarf moro in a pot, and I know it is extremly sensitive to poor drainage and out of all the citrus I have right now, it is a light hog. It wants as much light possible and if it doesn't get it, it will start dying back. Andrew
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I think you are both right. It needs to be better established in order to get enough water out of the soil. If Summer wasn't winding down, I'd recommend shade cloth until established. Think of temps of 110F, humidity below 10%, long days, no shade and imagine how much water that takes. Palm Springs area could easily require daily watering if you are in an area with really sandy soil with no bottom. The best way to change that is adding material to help hold some water. Consider adding lots of mulch to slow the sun baking the moisture out of the ground near the tree. Some of the golf courses are adding Profile amendments, AKA Turface, at the rate of 30-50%.
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