Citrus, Pests & Soil: Spring Gardening Tips

Spring is here in my zone 8 area; my favorite season of the year! The weather has been beautiful with lots of sun, and the birds are coming into the yard which is an indication the insects are here. Even seed-eating birds hunt for protein (worms, insects) for their young.

Preparing Citrus for the Season

I have been getting things ready to clean up and preparing the citrus for Spring, cleaning out the weeds and leaves. The hurricanes last year ruffed them up, but besides lacking some limbs, they are doing ok. New buds and blooms are happening. Most of my citrus are in large pots, with a Meyers lemon and grapefruit in the ground.

With the new growth I’m seeing, I expect adult leaf miners to be coming in to start laying their larvae between the tissue of leaves, which makes them difficult to control.

Leaf miner tunneling - obviously getting out of control!

Dealing with Leaf Miners

If you see the characteristic “tunneling” in the leaves, remove the leaf, or the infected part of it, and squish it up in your fingers to kill the larvae. You have to stay on top of this, check your plants daily for signs of leaf miners.

Scale is another pest I prepare early for. There are many types of scale, all of them have some form of protective covering at some stage in their cycle. It has a shell that covers and protects the insect under it.

Insecticide Choice and Alternative

Sadly, it appears the product I have used for years to help keep control of these problems is no longer available. Because it is a product primarily made of Pyrethrins and Canola oil, I found a product I can use instead. I found it on Amazon, Garden Safe Insect Killer.

Pyrethrin is a natural insecticide derived from the chrysanthemum flower that acts as a defense mechanism against pests. It is a highly effective insecticide that paralyzes and kills insects almost immediately upon contact. The residue fades quickly. The oil helps coat the plant surface, so the plants that tend to attract scale, in my case, citrus, figs, olives and bay tree, are coated, which helps smother the scale.

Important Safety Warning

Here is a warning: pyrethrin is not harmful to humans and animals if used as directed on the label. It can be very toxic if not used properly. READ THE LABEL.

I also want to mention that it is an indiscriminate insecticide, which means it will also kill beneficials. So, when I spray, I do it early in the spring, before flowering. We do not want to kill the pollinators.

I have noticed through years of using beneficials for pest control that once the beneficial wasp has laid its larvae within the aphid or whitefly, its larvae are not affected when spraying with a contact pesticide. I do realize I will be killing good bugs at the moment, but I know there are beneficials that will hatch to replace them.

Impregnated aphids

Alternative Pest Control Options

You do not have to use pyrethrin product with oil. I use this because I found that it works for my applications, but there are pyrethin products without oil. Other options that I've worked with successfully are products with Spinosad, or Neem.

Spring Gardening Soil Preparation Tips

Before I wrap this up spring gardening guide, I want to mention that since it is Spring and planting is in the air, consider doing a soil test with an at home kit, especially if you haven’t done one for over a year (have you EVER done one? 😄).

You can purchase a soil test kit to do the testing yourself or get with your local extension and they will help you.

Want to see me demonstrating how I test my soil using an at-home soil test kit? Check out my YouTube video here!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gSEsk4Yfw-E

Time to get back outside and play in the yard. My form of meditation.