Hi

I had a number of citrus trees in Arizona, in the ground and also in containers. I didn't have many problems with them. In fact I don't remember spraying them with dormant oil like the other fruit trees that I had.

Now I am living in Florida, a lot of bugs and disease to worried about around the citrus crops.
I have been successful using spinosad containing products. Is organic and in my opinion better than neem and other sprays. Sometimes neem don't agree with citrus very much, but is good for other crops.

I hope this helps.

The pests may be too small, but pictures of the plant overall and closeups of the leaves might help us help you.

Frankly, if they're so tiny, they're likely to be mites. Very common indoors.

Here is a website that has alot of various information about citrus trees. Hope it helps

Here is a link that might be useful: Citrus tree info.

Mike,

Check out this website and scroll almost all the way down, there are pics of different bugs/pests that are known to infect citrus...Hope you can identify yours by one of the pictures from there. Good luck!

Here is a link that might be useful: Pests and Diseases on Citrus

Oh man, everyone..Nothing on these two sites looks anything like what I have. That is what so frustrating and distubing. Not even the local greenhouse can figure it out. I wish I new.I wish I new. Let me take some pictures of at least the leaves and see if I can figure a way to download pictures. I am so stupid at it. I will need help to.
Please wish me the best. What I can never understand is why no matter how much I take it to the shower, and take outside and hose off, and I mean rub every leaf, then hose off, they won't leave me alone. As soon as the leaves dry, they start walking again. Do spidermites do this? I thought you could pray those darn these off anyways. Can't be them then.
As soon as the cold weather rolled in, it started.
Please wish me the best. I did spray everything,and got my wooden floor soaked too, with tonis solution of cyanne powder, lemon juice, dishsoap, and garlic, and even added for kicks aliitle neem oil this am. Tonight on second inspectionI saw nothing. So I am keeping my fingers crossed that I can at least keep the population dow.If I can almost cough and choke to deth with the cyanne powder in that spray, how can anything live getting squirted with this stuff anyways.
At least I didn't loose any buds. Funny, seems like they only show up with a new flush of growth, or flowering!!
You know, I keep getting so excited to watch my growthof leaves look so green and perfect just to be attacked like a ticking time bomb, when whulla, it happens. Pests. I get so disheartned. I can never grow a flush of new leaves perfect indoors. Something always has to chop of the little baby green growth at the ends or tips, or the new growth has to eventually start to distort from flat leaves to distorted ones. It never fails.
Thanks guys for trying to help. I think these pests are listening to this conversation, I have to go now..Sorry..
:-0( Mike

Mike,
Do they look like the ones I had?
http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/citrus/msg0802273723407.html

NO...But a memeber told me to get a miscroscope which is a great idea and to take some off with tape and examine them closely. I am going to walmart to get one asap. I have no idea what they are. Maybe they are the hatchlings of mites, but never adult size because I am so intune with spraying my plants. I will let you know what I discover. I hope somehere knows what they are. Thanks so much

Spray the plant, esp undersides of leaves, to the point of runoff, with a solution of 70% isopropyl alcohol and water (1:2) with a few drops of surfactant (ivory liquid, soap gratings, e.g.). Whatever they are, they're not likely to survive this.

Skip the isopropyl and just spray with good sudsy water .
For a large in ground grove , we use the cheapest dish soap in a sprayer and spray regularly .
We spray once a month , year round with either recycled Canola oil , BT or dish soap . Does not prevent any diseases or pests but does work on contact if an insect is present .
Best of all - these products are safe for the user , the trees as well as the environment .

OK, organic remedies aren't working so the time has come to go chemical. I recommend Bayer Advanced Garden Power Force Multi-insect Killer. It is somewhat sweet smelling and kills on contact. There comes a time when you have to pull out the big guns. It has worked for me.

Mike, I'm sorry the organic spray isn't working.
The first thing you must do is ID this bug.
The spray I make is used to prevent mites, and when Fish Emulsion is added, scale.
It won't kill mealy or whitefly.

Is there a college nearby? A college w/an etomology or horticulture dept? If so, give them a call. Talk to someone in charge and ask if they'll take a look at your insects. IF they agree, remove a couple leaves with these creatures, then place in an old pill bottle. Hurry over, before bugs die. Ask the instructor if he/she has advice on how to transport.

Insects, when newly hatched are tiny. Perhaps the parents are dying, and leaving eggs behind..I dont know if bug eggs need parents to survive.
Mike, how many and what type of plants attracted these insects? Do they fly? I'm wondering if they're baby whitefly? Perhaps you should invest in Yellow STicky Traps, too?
Keep us posted, Mike..Toni

Of course using chemicals is up to you, Mike, but how are you going to know which brand to buy if you can't identify the insect? Does that make sense?

Have you considered the idea that they might not be pests at all? They could simply be cleaning debris or dust off your plants, or even looking for some tasty mites to eat.

Mike:

Sounds like spider mites to me. That is the only pest on my citrus in my greenhouse. I can control them with one or two sprays a yr of approved miticides. Agri Mek, Avid, florimite, Forbid, Acramite, Zeal, Envidor etc all do the job. But some are not registered on fruit.

A good new organic control is Sucracide, Sucrashield, or Sorbishield 90. You can buy Sucracide from bee keeper supply stores.

The Fruitnut

fruitnut, none of those miticides would be recommended or safe for indoor use. Mike overwinters his plants inside his home.

Ok...Everyone here is the latest developement....I hate to admit, but the first time I used toni's, yes yours toni, spray, I don't think I made it right. Or I don't think I hit up all my plants which probably could of left some buggies on some just to get on the others that I had spray. So this last time around, 4 days ago, I put into a spray bottle this.....2 tablespoons of garlic juice,8 drops of joy with lemon soap, 2 tables spoons of lemon juice,1/2 tablespoon of cyanne pepper, and 1/2 capful, a lot less than recommended of neem oil, and I still can't see a one pest. It seems to have worked so far. In fact the new leaves are not distorting right know. Keeping my fingers crossed!!!
Here's the thing, I went out and bought a microscope, and it never helped me, becasue I still see no bugs to examine. As someone recommended, the next time I see them, I will use transparent tape, take some of the leaves and stick them to it, and then examine them. But I am honestly starting to feel like they could be baby spidermites. This is what confuses me though ok. If you have an answer, please, anyone let me know ok...

HOW COME WHEN I SHOWER THEM REAL WELL, UNDER THE LEAVES, AND HOSE THEM OUTSIDE, THE POSSIBLE MITES, DO NOT FALL OFF AND AWAY FROM THE LEAVES?
Instead, after I have rinsed the leaves off well, they start walking around again after the leaf has dried off. IF THEY WERE SPIDERMITES, WOULD THEY DO THIS? WITHSTAND THE WATER WASH? OR DO THEY RESIST LIKE THIS?. If they are suppose to wash off, then I have a different bug problem..right? HELP!!!
I will try a college if they come back and bring in specimens.
Toni, after I use your spray, the leaves look so clean and shiny. Is this what you get too? Also, when I spray, if I breathe in the pepper..whooohh. How about you, burnt nostrils..lol
Like I said, if anything survives this, they are indestructable then!!
So far so good. Hey, how many of us here take a shower with their plants? I am curios. I started doing this since then, I make them take turns, I take a different one with me each time and each tree seems to enjoy it..lololol. I give them a sponge bath while I am at it.Sometimes I close the shower curtain, then let HOT water run to steam up bathroom and let plants sit there all night or day.
Hey what the heck,in fact, I bought a rubber ducky for my favorite citrus tree the other day!!!!lol
toni,
I don't think they are white fly. I have never seen them. No flying insect yet anyways. Some day I will find out what they are though!! I brought them home last year from a greenhouse, remember, and I thought with all the spraying and summer growth outdoors, they would not have come back, just diappear, but noooo. So I think they are babies of something that were just incubating and waiting for the right time to feed again. Maybe I never give them a chance at spreading to maturity by being vigelant.
I just hope I solved this problem of these pests with the homemade spray solution. Thanks alot
Thanks everyone! If you have anyother ideas, please tell me. I have not resorted to chemical yet,nor will, unless I find I am in a loosing battle. Thankgod I don't have more than a few plants as compared to some of you here. Hundreds. No way. I would be forever spraying!!!:-) I feel bad for anyone who has this problem in their greenhouses. Makes me think twice now, whether I want one, or just be satisfied with a few plants in a small room..:-)
MIke