Content
- Detect and treat diseases and pests on the orange tree
- fungal diseases
- Ground rot leads to the dying of the tree
- The most common pests
- Scale insects
- Leaf-, wool- and mealybugs
- Red citrus spider mite
- Tips & Tricks
Detect and treat diseases and pests on the orange tree
Like any other plant, orange trees can be attacked by pests or fungi. With a little bit of attention small and bigger catastrophes can be avoided. An accurate weekly look under the leaves and the branches often reveals in advance a resettling aphid colony or even a new louse population, which slowly migrates up the branches.
fungal diseases
Mushrooms can basically colonize all plant parts, from the roots to the flowers and fruits, the whole orange tree is often infested. Mushrooms feel particularly comfortable in a warm and humid climate, which is why you should react in good time to signs of suspicion, particularly with oranges that are sensitive to heat and moisture. Fungal infection is particularly common after overheating, eg. B. in the warm living room, or after a louse attack on.
Ground rot leads to the dying of the tree
The so-called base rot is probably also caused by a fungus and usually begins at the lower end of the stem. Initially, some parts of the bark darken, then burst later. The tree separates a rubbery liquid from the affected areas. The disease is highly contagious and also spreads throughout the tree - including the roots, which eventually causes the orange tree to die.
The most common pests
In addition to fungi, numerous insect pests cause problems.
Scale insects
These lice are recognizable by their little tags and usually sit on the undersides of leaves along the pathways and on the shoots. The larvae shape is very small (about 0.5 mm), white and very mobile. Often one first discovers the sticky exudates of honey, which are sprayed by the animals up to 15 centimeters wide. On these excretions like a Rußtaupzilz settles, which covers the sheet black. The adult scale insects can be treated most gently with a mineral oil spray, the larvae with potassium soap.
Leaf-, wool- and mealybugs
An aphid attack can be seen from afar on the crippled sprouts and twisted leaves. They prefer to stick to soft new expulsions. Wool and lice are whitish to pink and up to four millimeters in size. In infestation, they can multiply explosively. They sit on the undersides of the leaves, in leaf axils and shoot tips. These lice are treated by the same means as other sucking insects, but several times in a row. This ensures that even the later hatching from the eggs pups are combated.
Red citrus spider mite
This spider mite belongs to the plant sap sucking arachnids. The adult animals are just under 0.5 millimeters tall and red. An infestation is recognizable by bright spots on the leaves. The animals usually sit on the undersides of the leaves. In case of severe infestation they form there and in the leaf axils also spiders, which can spread to the entire shoot tip. Spider mites prefer dry air. Increasing the humidity therefore reduces the infestation. Predatory mites can also limit an infestation, but they need temperatures around 20 ° C. In case of increased occurrence, spider mites can be combated with a mineral oil spray or with potash soap.
Tips & Tricks
Extremely suspicious is a lively ant activity in the stem and root area. On the one hand ants love the sugar secretions of the lice and therefore cultivate these pests with devotion, on the other hand they damage the roots of the plants with their own nursery, which is laid out in the root ball, through their grave activities.