Question

misshapen grapefruit l   QUESTION: Hi,
Over the past few weeks, my fairly young grapefruit tree is
growing misshapen leaves (see picture).  I have some spider
mites on a nearby passion vine, but couldn't see any on the
grapefruit (can citrus be infected with spider mites?). Do
you know what is causing this? I water this plant about
every 2 to 3 days (I live in Texas and we have upper 80's
temps right now)and try to deep-water. I haven't given it
any fertilizer so far.

Also, can you recommend a good natural fertilizer to
encourage fruit production? finally, what can I do to
encourage branching of the tree ?

thank you very much in advance for your answer. I am new to
fruit tree growing and am a bit at a loss ... I appreciate
your time.

ANSWER: Hi laurence, Sounds like you have a few things going on.  I would use Atomic Grow for your citrus and other plants.  Your citrus has leaf minor which is caused by a moth that comes out when the weather gets hotter.  The moth lays her eggs under the leave and it makes tracks that look like railroad tracks.  It goes away when the weather gets cold.  I am using the Atomic Grow on my citrus and the new leaves coming out do not seem to have any problems.  

It will also improve the health of your passion vine so the spider mites go somewhere else for dinner.  Atomic Grow is organic and will not harm your food crops.  I would always use a slow release fertilizer so you do not burn your plants.  Always check the labels for the content of salt and chlorine as they are used as a fill in cheap fertilizer and ends up killing plants.  kathy

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Hi Kathy,
I checked again underneath the leaves and didn't see
anything that looks like insect eggs or railroad tracks.
The underside of the misshapen leaves are smooth and even-
colored with nothing on them. However, today for the first
time, a couple leaves have very small holes in them, like
something has eaten them, but no sign of the critters or
its eggs ... Any other idea of what I am dealing with?

Now, I might be missing something but from what I read on
the atomic grow website, it is a fertilizer, which, as all fertilizers, will improve the overall health of the plants
; but how is it going to kill/get rid of the insects
attacking my plants? Finally, I am already using an organic
fertilizer (seaweeds, fish emulsion,magnesium, ferrous
sulfate and zinc) on my others plants and it didn't keep
them from getting spider mites. what else can I use?

Any idea on how to get my citrus to branch out? would
pinching the extremities do it?
thanks for your time and help!
Laurence

Answer
Hi again Laurence, It is probably aphids that may have attacked it at one time and then left.  Could have been winter coming on.  Now that the leaves are becoming larger you are noticing them.  Aphids suck on the leaf and cause it to wrinkle as do thrips and other types of insects.  Holes in the leaves could come from the dogface caterpillar
which is a butterfly and does not harm the citrus.  It is their larval food.  

Atomic Grow cleans the leaves to allows the sun to heal the trees and plants.  It raises the bricks in the plant which sweetens it so the insects will leave to go to sickly plants.  This along with your organic fertilizer will work wonders. The fertilizer works through the roots and the AG through the leaves and bark.  I am an organic nursery and I only sell and promote that which I use as I have no idea how other products work.  I have seen plants improve in as little as two days.  Some may even loose leaves and come back with fresh new growth if the plant has serious bugs.  kathy