Is This Insect Causing My Lime To Fall Off?

[iainiain101]

My lime have started falling off in large quantities before they are ripe enough for my G&T.

I have today noticed a lot of these insects on them. Can anyone identify them, and are they the culprit?

[cooked]

weevil?

[MJCM]

If you want get rid of them, spray the limes with S85 diluted in Water

[GarryP]

No.

[cooked]

http://www.pesticideinfo.org/Detail_Chemical.jsp?Rec_Id=PC32816#Toxicity

YES, it works alright, you can probably wipe out an entire village with this stuff. I know something about chemical treatments in different applications, and anything sold by Bayer chemicals (most of the stuff that has been proposed to me in Thailand up to now) is being sold here because it has been forbidden in Europe for bloody years.

When you tell them it might be poisonous, they just say ' little, little' but can't give you a dosage or a measuring device.

Many Thai farmers don't eat their own crops, they know about it.... sorry, am I ranting?

[samuijimmy]

Some Thai's tie plastic bags around their fruit.... as it is ripening....

As silly as it might look, and a bit tedious to do, it does seem to work.... !

[soidog2]

Try neem oil mixed with with hot peeper extract or lemon grass.

It will work, harmless to humans or pets.

Even simpler if you only have one tree: rinse the fruit with a soapy solution or just pressure hose them.

[iainiain101]

Thanks. will try the lemon grass solution first.

[xen]

My guess is Broonze Orange bug although the angular shape that identifies a BOG is hidden in the photo. They are also known by a incredible stink they emit if they are disturbed and this will burn and stain the fruit and leaves and on one of the leaves in the photo there is the evidence of burning of the leaf . They are sap suckers so they will chew and ringbark the fruit stem causing the fruit to drop but usually this when the fruit should be picked anyway so you pick them off the ground instead of off the tree.

Usually chemicals are used so the fruit remains unblemised and marketable but if you are using for yourself i would just take a deep breath and hose them off again and again until they all move to a nicer neighbourhood where they don't get hosed a few time aday.

.

[oldestswinger]

Looks like a kind of katydid.

Here's an extract about them:

'Katydids eat the leaves of trees and shrubs but seldom do much harm. In early fall the females lay eggs on leaves or twigs, or deposit them in crevices in bark, or in slits made in leaf edges with the ovipositor. In spring the eggs produce nymphs that resemble the parents except for size and lack of wings. The nymphs molt, or shed their coverings, several times as they grow. The insects mature in late summer.'

[cooked]

Further to my remarks about the difficulty of finding environmentally friendly treatments, I did at last find something in Bangkok that I have been told was an extract of Nem, chilli and lemon grass. I will have to type the instructions on the packet out and get them google-translated. At first she showed me the infamous E-85 shown above. When I said I would under no circumstances ever use that and that on top of that I needed a measuring instrument, I was told the I was 'fussy' according to my wife.

I'm sure they'd sell you cyanide or arsenic if you asked for it.

[xen]

Further to my remarks about the difficulty of finding environmentally friendly treatments, I did at last find something in Bangkok that I have been told was an extract of Nem, chilli and lemon grass. I will have to type the instructions on the packet out and get them google-translated. At first she showed me the infamous E-85 shown above. When I said I would under no circumstances ever use that and that on top of that I needed a measuring instrument, I was told the I was 'fussy' according to my wife.

I'm sure they'd sell you cyanide or arsenic if you asked for it.

I agree. A good deal of the time there is no need to use toxic chemicals . So what if your fruit has a few blemishes but at least it is edible . Using good horticultural practises are far more effective in pest control like choosing a good site for the plant, allowing airflow around the plant, not over fertilizing the plant and /or fertilizing with the right stuff at the right time and so on. Everytime you use a chemical like Carbaryl it will have knock-on effects on the bird populations (natural predators of these insects) and bees for pollination as well as the whole natural food chain. Short term control verses long term control.

[trivo]

Grab a can of flyspray and that will kill them and not harn the fruit. use sparingly. worked on my lemon tree they come out at night

[TheWalkingMan]

Some Thai's tie plastic bags around their fruit.... as it is ripening....

As silly as it might look, and a bit tedious to do, it does seem to work.... !

Interesting. In Japan, some farmers tie a paper bag around their fruits while still on the branch. I never saw that anywhere else.

[David48]

They are sometimes referred to as ‘Stink Bugs or Beetles’ due to the odour they give of when disturbed.

From Gardening Australia: mix of water with a few drops of dish liquid & either garlic oil or minced garlic. Shake really well & spray them till saturated & they will drop off plants fences etc.

Others use a (bagged) vacumn cleaner to suck them off.

In summer, have a look under citrus leaves for stinkbug eggs. The eggs are spherical and fairly large for insect eggs (3 mm), and they are laid in rows.

Info here, here and here.

[cooked]

My melon seedlings are attacked by a weevil similar to the one in the picture. The magic Neem mixture seems to drive them off but as soon as it rains they come back, and if it is threatening to rain or is still raining there is no point in applying it again. I will make a tunnel with mosquito nets to keep the @#$% s off, plus Neem concoction (oh boy, I have to take a shower after using that stuff) .