I am new to this citrus thing so please bear with me and help if you can...
A little over a year ago I bought a kumquat tree. It did fair, grew some leaves had a few fruits, nothing grand. Well a few months ago it got ill, drop all leaves then grew back deformed leaves, then dropped leaves and began dying from the top down branch by branch. I cut off all the dead wood, repotted in new soil, and will wait and see. Never saw any bugs until today. (Another dead stem too.) Today I found these little ant sized catipillar looking bugs. See pic, I hope they post....Any thoughts?

this is the dying tree


this is closer with the critters


this is one of the critters up close



Okay... the story continues. Last week I figured I would have a go at 2 new kumquat trees, a meiwa and a nagami. Potted as recommended at the nursery... Then today I find some funky looking leaves on the meiwa and the underside of some leaves on the nagami. The leaves are sort of curled with what looks like a waxy coating on them. Also the color of the leaves on both are a bit yellowish. Please offer any thoughts. Again, I hope my picutes post ok. Thank you, thank you if you have any thoughts. I have tried to research but not much luck.

Meiwa tree


Meiwa closer up


Funky leaves cut off meiwa




nagami


nagami closer up


ugly underside of some nagami leaves



Again, I hope the pictures worked and thanks for reading this far!!

The lower photos are citrus leafminers. What area do you live in ? If your in a zone 7B or higher you should be able to plant the Kumquats inground.

sorry,
i live in south louisiana. i was hoping to keep them in pots until i buy my own home where i can put them in the ground.
so what are leaf miners and how do i get rid of them and/or prevent them? do you mean they are the little bugs on the dying kumquat or what is causing the stuff on the nagami leaves? thanks!

Leaf miners are definitly part of your problem, but they do not cause the leaves to drop. Leaf drop is a sign of stress, most likely caused by too much or too frequent water.

-- Skeet

Oh yes-- I forgot to add the catipillar is probably the Giant Swallowtail butterfly larvae or orange dog as it is sometimes called. You can just pick them off or even keep watch for the eggs and keep them picked off. They are usually single eggs laid on new growth.

-- Skeet

Cpatte2, for information on Citrus Leaf Miners, see this web page. http://members.fortunecity.com/pjsauber/LeafMiner.htm - Millet

thanks all for the info! i will let you know how everyone fairs

Laaz - really? I live in Germantown, MD - I can actually plant it in the ground? What's the lowest temp they can take? I may have to go back to McDonalds and buy a kumquat tree!

Sjeffery, I would be very leery of putting the run of the mill Nagami, Meiwa or Marumi kumquat in the ground up there in 7a. Here in Va Bch zone 8a I decided against it. You may be able to keep it alive for a couple of mild winters but a true 7a winter blast would probably do it in if not protected. This has been displayed in many cold hardy trials.
The O.P. Nagami has proven itself much more hardy than any of the other kumquats available. Here it has endured low teens many times, the brutal winter of '90 and has taken the cold even better than Thomasville, Morton, Changsha and many others. Other hardy kumquats to look out for would be the Lee Sharp kumquat and the 10 degree aka Nameiwa kumquat. All of which I have planted in ground here. Of course make sure they are grafted onto poncirus trifolite. There are quite of few kumquat hybrids that might make it up there, but that would be another post. Next time you come to Va beach let me know.

Laaz,
Will do. Thanks, as always, for the absolute wealth of info that you share. Stephanie

whatever is wrong (and i hope you get them under control and they thrive for you!) I am jealous of wherever you can go out and get gorgeous trees like that!