Transparent/white goo on the back of lemon tree leafs

Question

The tree has been outside during the summer, since a few weeks back I took it in. A few days back I noticed these strange things attached on the back of 20% of the leafs. What is it?

score 2 · Answer 1 · answered Oct 09 '19 at 18:18

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This appears to be mealybugs on your lemon tree. If you can isolate a few and examine under magnification compare to the images here and see if they match up. If the plant is reasonably small one simple treatment is to use a Qtip and rubbing alcohol to wipe off the patches you see. Keep a watchful eye for new patches, and repeat until they are all gone.

answered Oct 09 '19 at 18:18

Colin Beckingham

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Thanks. I'll see if I can find a magnification glass. Do you know what the drops can be? looks like tiny tiny rain drops. – estrar Oct 09 '19 at 18:53
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Colin, I found it was whiteflies! – estrar Oct 10 '19 at 14:20

estrar · Accepted Answer · 2019-10-10T14:27:51.840

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While manually removing the white goo (whatever it was) with a few cotton pads, I noticed a few white flies. After some googling, I found a matching picture of a whitefly. The liquid drops seems to be Honeydew, which is "a sticky byproduct of their feeding, may coat leaves and anything under the tree, such as benches or vehicles." (see this article for more info)

edited Oct 10 '19 at 14:27

answered Oct 10 '19 at 10:03

estrar

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Transparent/white goo on the back of lemon tree leafs

2 Answers2