Lemon Tree White Fly blight under control!

Honey bee on Lisbon lemon blossoms

As you may remember from one of my early April posts, we discovered that the beloved lemon tree was under siege of white fly blight. We knew that we had to apply some kind of treatment to get rid of, or at least lessen the problem to save the tree. And we definitely didn't want to use anything toxic.

We tried the dishwashing liquid/baking soda/cooking oil/water solution (recipe in the post titled "White fly blight") and applied it twice in a 2 week period. And it looks like this concoction really works!

True, we still do have a minor white fly problem, but it is really under control so far... And the bees, birds and butterflies are often in the tree as it produces new flowers and leaves. The bees are busy gathering nectar and pollinating the lemon flowers.

Last weekend we sprayed all the leaves with water, which also helps alleviate the white fly problem, using the container with hose (pictured in the "White fly blight' post). This way we only used about a half gallon of water for the job. The water pressure is not the same as when you use a hose, but it still worked quite well and all the leaves were soaked.

Baby bushtit learning to find bugs in the lemon tree