Hey all...

I've noticed recently a small supply of what I take to be "honeydew" (clear, sticky, highly viscous liquid) on the leaves of a few of my citrus. It's always very small spots, not more than 1 mm in diameter; but I can't for the life of me see anything on the plants that could be causing it.

Does anyone have any thoughts for identification and removal of the pest (assuming that there is one to begin with)? It doesn't seem to present itself as a huge problem at the moment, but I'd like to stop it before it gets out of control.

Much thanks in advance

~Derek

It could be juvenile scale which is invisible to the naked eye. The dew may be dripping from another plant with some sort of infestation.

According to Ortho books, All About Citrus & Subtropical Fruits, adult scale can be controlled by light oil sprays. Juvenille scale can be treated with Malathion and Diazinon. It's my belief some areas are banning many of the chemical pesticides. Is there an alternative to these chemicals?

Cheers, Barrie.

The juveniles can be blasted off a tree by spraying with stiff jets of water. This helps keep the population in check.

For my containerized trees, which are fairly small, I use insecticidal soap which kills both young and old scale. It helps to physically remove the adults before applying the soap as the young ones under the scale are then exposed even if they're not removed along with the adult. Since my trees are inside scale usually doesn't come back once they're eradicated. Spider mites are a bigger problem for me.