Problems With Lime Trees: Getting Rid Of Lime Tree Pests

By Kathleen Mierzejewski

Usually, you can grow lime trees without much trouble. They prefer soils that have good drainage. They do not tolerate flooding and you have to make sure the soils are right for lime trees or you could run into problems with lime trees like nutritional deficiency.

Make sure when you plant lime trees that you plant them on the south side of your home. This helps to take advantage of protection from winds and cold. They prefer full sunshine, of course, same as any citrus fruit tree.

Common Pests of a Lime Tree

You can run into lime tree problems like lime tree pests. These are no more than the same pests that bother all citrus fruit trees. The leafminer is one such pest that attacks new growth on the lime tree. As far as lime tree pests go, they do cause a lot of damage to new developing leaves. They leave trails on the leaves that cause a distortion to the leaf shape and even cause stunted growth of the leaf. Insects on lime tree fruit and leaves can cause mining in the fruits and trails on them as well.

During the spring, the crop of limes expected is always better because there is not as many lime tree pests. This is because these things do not overwinter well. However, later in the growing season, when another growth spurt is occurring, you could have a devastating attack by insects on lime tree fruit and leaves. This is because these pests flourish in warm weather.

Solving Lime Tree Problems

You cannot use chemicals to get rid of lime tree pests. You can, however, try citrus spray oils. Sometimes these can prevent an infestation of lime tree pests before they get out of hand. Sometimes you should just ignore any damage you see because many problems with lime trees won’t kill the tree. Further, some pesticides can kill the bugs that help keep pests population down. You don’t want that.

Some insects on lime tree leaves and fruit can be ignored because they won’t affect anything except appearance. Otherwise, the fruit inside the peel will be perfectly acceptable.

If you come to a point where you feel it necessary to spray your lime trees, you should make sure you choose the right spray for your trees and spray at the right time of year or at the right time to kill the common pests of a lime tree you want to kill. Otherwise, it is pointless.

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