St Andrews Garden, Victoria Australia

Lemonade trees

St Andrews Garden, Victoria, Australia

The first Lemonade planted in the winter of 2005 died, without warning the leaves became limp and the tree began to die - On inspection the base of the tree developed a black ring like a burn mark - This turned out to be made by white ants which had made a nest near the tree. Apparently they crawl out of the ground in the darkness of night ring bark the tree and then when it dies they eat it from the inside out.

A second tree was planted in another location during the summer 2005 - this began to flower profusely in October 2006.

I have kept water on the tree and place a good layer of compost and mulch around the bas of the tree -

Autumn 2009 the tree was showing better signs of growth -

Nov 2006 this plant developed a scale problem

I tried Peter Peter Caudal's recipe -

To rectify this scale problem, use about a cup of ordinary cooking oil, a half a cup of water and a tiny amount of ordinary washing-up detergent. This is known as white oil. Put it in water, so it's about 40 parts water to one of this mixture. Stir it up and spray it on. To kill the scale insects ensure it is also sprayed under the leaves.