Navel Orange and the Citrus Leafminer

Earlier this year I killed another tree.

For the usual reasons – it didn’t put out (fruit or flowers) and I just didn’t like it.  It was a non productive member of society – a slacker if you will.  Plus the grass wouldn’t grow under it and it only provided shade to my patio cover…. which has a shade cover….  That’s like giving someone an umbrella when they’re already wearing a raincoat.

I called in the help of an arborist in an effort to save my navel orange tree and to have him take a look at some of  the other trees.   The orange tree is still hanging in there but I didn’t know if it would ever bear fruit again.  I needed some professional advice.  He diagnosed that the navel orange and meyer lemon had citrus leafminers, not enough water and not enough food.  He also conveniently diagnosed the slacker with root rot and a split trunk.  The root rot is curable – the split trunk is not – eventually the two will halve and come crashing down on my back wall and patio cover.  That’s all I needed to hear.

The navel tree’s been outfitted with a leafminer pheromone trap and a healthy dose of citrus food.  With plenty of water, the tree is doing better.  Here’s a tiny little naval orange.  Last year, many of these dried up and died.

Let’s see what happens.