Pests and diseases
Control pests like snails and slugs with physical barriers like sawdust or shell grit on the ground. Use sticky bands or fluffy quilt wadding Dacron bands on the tree trunks to stop weevils travelling from the soil into the canopy. Hand-pick pests before they escalate to plague proportions.
Avoid the use of strong pesticides which can kill parasitic wasps, ladybirds, lacewings, lizards and frogs which are the natural enemies of pest insects. Try to keep your garden ecologically balanced.
Fruit flies are one of the worst pests of fruit trees in metropolitan Perth and must be controlled. Hang baits in the tree, use splash baits containing spinosad weekly and install fruit fly netting over the trees once the fruit is formed or use exclusion bags on individual fruits.
Appropriate destruction of fruit which fall off trees or which remain on the tree as 'mummies' at the end of the harvest season is important to prevent the build-up of many pests and diseases such as fruit fly, brown rot of stone fruit and apple scab. This should be a routine part of managing your trees.
Citrus branches infected with gall wasp should be pruned off at least one month prior to the expected wasp emergence in spring.
Prune trees so they are well ventilated and get plenty of sun, as this provides less favourable conditions for diseases.
Try not to damage your plants as wounds provide an entry for diseases.