Here are some pictures:

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Notice the white scaley substance. It doesn't sound like what you folks are calling scale as you are making it sound like a creature that moves. This just looks more like barnacles, only much softer and also stationary.

The blackish leaves looks like some kind of mildew?

The curly leaves look like leafminers.

So is this tree affected by canker or just other treatable pests?

The 1st, 2nd and 3rd pictures show lichens. Not a problem.

The black stuff is likely sooty mold. It's secondary to a sucking pest -- commonly aphids, whiteflies or scale -- which produces sticky honeydew. Taht sticky stuff is loaded with sugar and is a fine food source for the fungus. The good news is that once you limit the insect (whatever ones you have) the sooty mold is also limited.

Not absolutely certain about the curly leaves. Doubt that it's leafminers -- but I'm hoping that folks who are familiar with that pest will speak up. Looks more like edema. But I must say that I've never seen that much damage from edema.

Could also be some scale. If so, it would explain the source of the honeydew, which is then followed by sooty mold.

The lichens can be cleaned up using koicide, a fixed copper spray.
The curled leaves are caused by leaf miner. The adult,a very small moth lays the eggs on the new growth and the larve tunell in the leaves. Check your local county extension agent for recommendation of control.

Ok I sprayed this morning with the fish emulsion in a hose end sprayer. The hose end sprayer is for 5 gallons. How much FE should I add? I think I added close to 2 tablespoons. Also added some epsom salt for good measure.

Lastly how often should I spray these trees to get the bugs gone for good? Every day for a week? Then once every other week or is that too much?

Ok I am going to spray my trees again with FE. I wish this wasn;t so much of an experiment I was really hoping to have heard some feedback from those on bhere I heard that used FE as a pesticide. I don't want to over-do it with the application. My good intentions are maybe not the best for the tress you know. Well I will mix up 2 Tbsp of Fish Emulsion to the 5 gallon hose end sprayer and spray the 3 trees. Wish me luck

Pk, I use 1 capful of Fish Emulsion per gallon of water when used as an insecticide. So far so good.
I spray mine once in autumn and that does the job, but if you're dealing with heavy infestation, I'd use it once a month until all signs of insects are gone..I wish you the best of luck..Toni

Thanks hopeful. I guess my anxiousness tyo get rid of the buggers made me over zealous to spray daily till it was gone. I will hold back to once a week. FE is a fertilizer and 1 cap per gallon seems weak enough noit to burn leaves.

Pk, I know what you mean about being anxious..don't blame you one bit.
Since FE is organic it shouldn't burn roots, so I wouldn't worry about it.
How's the bug population doing now? Toni

I don't see many bugs. I still see some of the webbing from spider mites but not sure the hose spray is removing the old webs or not. I can only detect the webs at night with a flashlight. My main concern was to start seeing new growth as the growth tips and buds have all browned over. How soon after all this treatment fert/pesticide/mulch/compost will I see new growth? I know this isn't the growth cycle for Citrus but it is FLorida so trees don't exactly go dormant from the weather here.

Pepperz I love your name..LOL
Do citrus in Fl slow down in winter?
I don't think citrus go in total dormancy anywhere..I'm in z5 and even though growth does slow down, trees continue to bear fruit/flowers.
Pepperz, it's important ridding the mites completely..If you see webbs on your trees, can you hose the trees down? If they're managable size, I'd rub webbs off (with fingers) while hosing. This way, if webbing reappears, you'll know for sure whether or not your citrus have mites. Do you know what I mean? Toni

yes I applied hort oil today for insurance. How soon would I expect to see new growth a week, a month?

Pepperz which I had an exact time..(S) If your tree is getting good light, temps are warm, let's say you should see new growth 3-4 wks. This is just conjecture, of course, but w/proper care this is a guestimation..Toni

Thanks Toni

Hi! I live in Houston, Tx. My citrus are mostly in ground. They grow best in Winter, kind of dormancy in Summer. I spray Fetilome, leaf miner, preventively to all newborn and young leaves till they become adult. That way, my leaves are all straight. I have two pummelo trees, normally their fruits were so dry. Now, one tree is dying, its fruits become so juicy and so sweet, even the smallest one. Any of you, please, give me an explanation.

***UPDATE***

The tree is finally showing new growth. I was a little worried as there was a few growth tips back in December but there were a few cold snaps since then, but seems like it is growing steadily. Nice green leaves. I've been consistently spraying and the problems seemed to have been reduced.

There have been 2 straight rainy weekeneds, so 2 weeks ago I go outside and I'm not sure if this is due to the orange rinds a friend gave me for my compost pile, but even in the steady rain I saw what appeared to be fruit flies that were reddish in color on the leaves of the trees. Even in the colder weather and wet they were present. They were small so it almost seemed like it was a new batch of babies that hatched or something. Is there specific control for this? I think Malcom Manners said don't worry about whitefly or blackfly, but if natural predators aren't taking care of the problem, I intend to if there is a control available.

Still wondering on the middle tree there is new growth but only from the tips of the stems. On the Ruby Red on the far left there is new growth from the tips as well as from the trunk and branches. Any idea if the second one will see this soon? Would pruning sealer/paint cause this from occuring?

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As you can see the first pic shows new healthy growth. Second one looks pretty uneventful.

Anyone have any thoughts? I am hoping it may just be due to the fact that the tree that is showing massive growth was the first one I pulled back the grass/weeds from the trunk by a few weeks and fertilized it and spent more time on that tree initially to see if my reuslts payed off, but then I did the same to the other 2 trees. Maybe there are other factors at play here though.

Plenty of new growth on this tree but no buds appearing. Will it take a year before the tree puts out buds?

Hi all,

I just wanted to share with you all that I had great success with using Neem oil on my citrus tree for the control of leaf miners and white flies. Not sure what it would do for lichen, though. It's a miticide, insecticide, and fungicide. I used it once in the early spring, but wouldn't recommend it on anything later in the hotter part of the season. Very safe to use on all edibles and extremely efficient.

Oh, and I also got rid of an entire infestation of pine tree borers on my eucalyptus and a few other trees with this stuff as well with only one application. Too bad I didn't figure that one out before I lost my deodora pine and tibouchina.

Hope this helps someone on the board.

Deb in NW Florida...(O:
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Just an update the tree is doing better, but I will have to take pictures this weekend. Weird thing is the tree started putting out some fruit mid December and are now the size a little larger than golf balls. Other parts of the tree are just putting out blossoms.

I was hoping to find a way to have the tree create more lateral branches to fill out the trees foliage. Any tips on that?

Is there any reason you want to get rid of the lichen? Aside from looks it is not harming your plant. Just curious.

no no initially I thought the lichen was some disease. There are other areas (not lichen) that still look like what canker looks like from pictures I have seen and the foliage resembles it as well.