Could be aphids. They are fairly easy to treat. You can wash them off with water or smoosh 'em. and if you let them be, ladybugs and other predators will show up & take care of them them.

They start out very, very tiny and grow larger. They reproduce asexually.

This photo shows a braconid wasp laying eggs on aphids:

Their feeding can cause distortion of growing leaves, but if it's only a few, there shouldn't be any lasting harm.

I will add that the aphids I find on tender new citrus growth in my trees are usually black/dark brown. The orange ones tend to show up on milkweed. Was the store selling milkweed plants nearby?

Thank you. Scale maybe?

Look like aphids to me. Citrus scale looks a lot different than that.

They look kind of like globular springtails (Sminthuridae) but I suspect being nail-polish removered altered their appearance somewhat. Next time, photo first, the squish! :)

Whatever these critters are, if there are few enough to dab off with alcohol, you can also just squoosh them off with your finger. Might not be as appetizing though!

I found two more on the same sprig of new growth - nowhere else. So, I decided to just cut most of the new growth off and be done with it as I was having trouble reaching one of them with a Q-tip. Hopefully it's just something the tree picked up at the garden center and not something systemic. I will keep watching. Thanks everyone!

First, I would suggest not to use nail polish remover. It contains acetone plus other chemicals that can potentially be very damaging. Acetone is a powerful solvent and will certainly damage leaves especially the young ones. Second, a few bugs like that is not much to worry about. A spritz of diluted alcohol (50/50) will easily take care of it. Or even just hosing it clean is good enough. New growths are always attractive to most bugs. Scales are harder and need to be more persistent.

Isn't it illegal to buy citrus in Florida and take it out of state?

Why would it be? It's probably illegal to transport to citrus growing states but NC is not one of those states.

https://www.usda.gov/media/blog/2014/08/25/citrus-trees-move-it-and-lose-it

https://www.freshfromflorida.com/Agriculture-Industry/Pests-and-Diseases/Plant-Pests-and-Diseases/Citrus-Health-Response-Program/Citrus-Quarantine-and-Disease-Detection-Maps

Ken, I'm curious, do you have any other activity here on this forum? I was trying to find that and saw nothing. I could of sworn you posted in the past. LOoks like you have been adding comments since March of this year. Looks like you have been trying to be helpful)

https://www.houzz.com/discussions/5640578/need-help-with-the-waxy-bumps-on-my-lemon-tree

I post occasionally when I think I can help someone out with my experiences with citrus, I dont really post outside of the citrus forum here. Sometimes people dont like your help and call you names but you just have to pretty much ignore those people and carry-on. Have to have a thick skin to post on the internet.

Read for fun

Having a thick skin helps

Steve

FWIW, I tried and failed to find anything troll-like in the posts above by Ken B.

Sometimes, some people can be overly touchy - overreacting to seemingly benign comments. I've had it happen to me as well. It seems to occur when a person is not taking a comment - or question - at face value, but reading more into it than what is there.

Thank you carolb, I have been posting here for over a year now so not even sure how the OP says I created an account that day just to troll them? But reading their other comments leads me to believe they have some other issues that need to be worked out. I will go on helping people when I can and ignoring people like the OP.

Carol, I ditto that! Being that quick to call anyone names without facts concerns me and this Houzz place should of removed them. In fact I will see to it Ken. There are more people here that deal with Houzzz more than many know and I am ashamed of the disrespect shown by others but what's new? It happens to me all the time after years of helping others here and setting a good reputation. It is what is is. Thick skin is a must.

Mike

Ken, all gone)) Keep up the good work.

Mike

Very strange. Toobusy4forums member page doesn't exist?

Carol, maybe she left because of the rude nature her thread turned into. Maybe she got put off?

She was the one that made the thread rude.

between August 23, 2019 and August 26, 2019 a post of hers has been removed. I suspect someone red flaged her post and houzz removed it and her membership in the garden web

Steve

It 's a shame that some people seem to take offense where none was intended.

Ken, if I am not mistaken, it was not her that called you a troll..Just saying. I think it waS 'BRIGHT' SOMETHING , the screen name, another person....Maybe she did too but I didn't see that. I am glad those rude posts have been removed though)

Bright something changed their name to toobusyforforums and removed her post calling me a troll.

Oh, I see. I actually had those posts removed...But She might of gotten the boot for all we know because I flagged it. I hate the name calling. You didn't deserve that.

LOL. With all the fighting going on here I thought I somehow wandered into the Hot Topics forum by mistake.

I think the reason why citrus is not supposed to be exported from Florida is that there is a plague right now that is destroying citrus here in Florida that has decimated the Florida citrus industry. I was driving a couple of weeks ago across the state and there were so many citrus groves that were totally withered away from citrus greening disease. I think there may even been restrictions on bringing actual pieces of fruit into the state. I could have dreamed this but I think there is a sign at the Georgia Florida border that might say something about bringing in fruit..

Jerzeegirl. lol. no one is fighting here. We are just trying to figure out what happened to the poster that called Ken a troll and agreeing it was not nice. You missed alot, all the garabge that was removed. By the way, thanks for the info, I am glad I don't live in that area. What a shame if you were someone who wanted to plant ne in ground for a hobby. You would always be afraid if your tree was next. Terrible. BY the way, if you are from New Jersy, it's going to be getting cold already. Crazy weather.

NJ From NJ but live on the west coast of FL but my DD lives up there. I was wondering about the weather - got a picture of my two grandsons on the first day of school. One was wearing a heavy looking hoodie and the other had on a T-shirt. Confusing!

I have always wanted a lemon tree and I would be more than happy to buy one and plant it in the ground but the thought of spreading some sort of awful disease to other trees stops me in my tracks. I guess I will wait until there is some sort of disease resistant tree that might withstand greening.