Hi, I have a washington orange tree(dwarf)about 4 feet tall in my backyard and i noticed that half of the branches were dying. It was healthy for a year and all of the sudden this things happened started 2 months ago. Most of the leaves turns yellow and small branches turns to brown. New fruits about 10 mm in size were falling. I watered my tree almost every other day. Applied citrus fertilizer and still not working. How could i keep my tree healthy? Thank you so much.

A dowel rod is a round piece of wood - like a pencil. You can get one at a hdwe store & sharpen it in a pencil sharpener. Alternately, us a 12" wooden skewer - they come pre-sharpened. * Move the plant to a spot where you can repeatedly and thoroughly flush the soil with water that hasn't passed through the softener. * Flush the soil up to 10 times with at least as much water as the volume of the container the plant is in. You cannot overdo it. * After flushing, tilt the container at a 45* angle and wait for the container to stop draining. This drains a considerable amount more water than allowing the container to rest on its bottom. * After draining has stopped, remove the plant from it's pot and set on newspapers to drain. If the plant is small, a few hours is fine - if large, allow it to rest on the papers over night. * With a utility knife, slash deep vertical cuts into the root mass and an 'X' on the bottom. Alternately, you can remove an inch or two of the roots/soil from the bottom. * Pot up into a slightly larger pot and fill in around the roots with a soil similar to what you currently have in the root mass. Use a wick in the bottom of the pot if you are going to be able to lift the pot above the collection saucer (best). Ideally, the wick will dancle 2-3" below the bottom of the pot w/o contacting the water in the collection saucer. (I know - a lot to ask) ;o) This wick will 'fool' the water into 'thinking' the pot is deeper than it is. Water will move down the wick 'looking' for the bottom of the pot, and droip off the end. This will go a long way toward eliminating the specter of root rot and allowing you to water copiously enough to flush the soil each time you water to help gurad against salt accumulation. * A few days after you've repotted, fertilize with 1/2 the recommended strength of Miracle-Gro 24-8-16 (granular/box), Miracle-Gro 12-4-8 (liquid/yellow jug), or Foliage-Pro 9-3-6 (best, but you'd probably need to order online) * Give it all the light you can, and try to keep soil temps @ 65-75* That's the standard plan for bringing Ficus back from the brink. I'm not sure how many it's worked for, but I know it's more than I can guess at .... lots. ;o) Best luck!! I'll be around if you still have questions. Al

Is that aphids and white fly? I am having a hard time visually. When you touch the leaves do white things fly around? Get a magnifying glass and look at the leaf are things crawling? It looks like the above to me and if it is you will need to kill them. I have never seen fungus look like that. So you will need to check pronto before you loose your plants. Then get back to us.

It's best to spray when the light isn't very strong or the sunlight can be amplified by the oils and and damage the leaves. Best time to spray would be early morning or an hour before sunset. Usually the sprays instruct you to use them over a certain period of time because the lifecycle for pests is very short and they reproduce quickly. It's probably best to use the spray or wash with water even if there are beneficials bc of what Mike said about overwintering. The pests do well overwintering on the trees and live through until spring so reducing them as much as possible will help. You won't have beneficials in your house to help.