I IS FOR INSECTS - THE GOOD THE BAD & THE UGLY

The citrus trees, or the collective noun 'the grove', consists of 7 trees. We have one of each - orange, lemon, lime, tangelo, tangerine, mandarin & grapefruit.

The trees were planted by the original owners of our property are 20 – 30 years old and each year become harder and harder to look after (the parallels here with my grandmother have not gone unnoticed).

The orange and lime trees have borer. An insect that is aptly named as it bores holes into the tree and has a really good go at killing it. I deal with these with methylated spirits and a syringe and hope that the death they are dying is filled with pain equal to but not more than the pain they inflict on the poor tree. 

Taking full advantage of a sick tree, black citrus aphids move in along with their little guardians, the black ant. The aphids suck on the new shoots like a thirsty gunslinger sucks down a cold beer they then excrete a sweet substance called honeydew, this in turn attracts ants.  The ants will then farm the aphids in order to harvest honeydew. I have found a colony of ants in the leaves of my lemon tree, at the first sign of danger to the herd the ants will swarm over to protect it.  I have even seen them pick up an aphid and carry it to another location.



So now we have some dead and dying branches and the new shoots on the good branches are having the life sucked out of them. The piece de resistance is the bronze citrus bug or stink bug, they attack whatever fruit manages to escape the dying branches and the dry sucked foliage and to add insult to injury, spray you with a vile caustic liquid if you dare disturb them.

I have employed the natural enemy of the stink bug, dog shampoo with citronella, to give these parasites a nice lemon scented mort de stink bug.  The soap in the shampoo breaks down the hard protective shell on the bug and the citronella is a natural insecticide. This spray also gives the aphids a quick trip to meet their maker. It's organic and it's quick. 

If I can keep my impatience with mother nature at bay and the dog shampoo spray to a minimum, lady bugs will come in in swarms and lay eggs which hatch into aphid eating machines that can eat their own body weight in 1 hour. Leaf curl spiders also take their toll of aphids as does our resident praying mantis colony and the sparrows and wattle birds love borers. I am also allowing a small window of opportunity for the Indian Minor birds as they eat the stink bugs.

My little natural army is growing, only time will tell if I have enough balance and patience here to turn the tide.