Question
i am facing lot of trouble in controlling the above two phenomenon in my lemon tree every now and then. the first one is grown in small and tiny branches with white insects with sticky gel attracting large scale of ants & other insects.though i could find out an appropriate liquid insecticides, i am still to contain the disease completely as it still recur once atleast in a year.    another trouble in the same plant is moths green and even 1.5 inches tall giving birth to no of small ones destroying the tiny leaves of the plant. last time there were a few flowers but could not bear fruit due to probably both the above cited diseases. kindly suggest some strong prescription so that i'm able to get things right.please also suggest a few feeds for such plant. regards

Answer
Dear B Bhowmik, The best thing to do to control the mealybugs and moths on your lemon tree would be to spray the tree with NEEM.  NEEM is an organic substance that is found in the NEEM tree and it is effective in killing insects, mites, and fungus, so it is very handy to have around.  I think NEEM trees may actually be found in India but I know that NEEM is something that you should be able to find because I often recommend it to my clients in India (and almost everywhere else).  Spray the tree thoroughly with NEEM and it will kill the mealybugs.   Be sure to spray the top and bottom of leaves and spray until the tree starts to drip.  I'm not sure what the moths are, but the mealybugs on the tree could be attracting them.  Be sure to spray when there are NO FLOWERS or on a cloudy day.  The reason for this is because you don't want to spray when the bees are out because you need them to pollinate the tree so you can have fruit.  You will probably have to spray once a week for about three weeks, but your bugs will all be gone.  For fertilizer, you can use almost anything that is readily available.  Composted manure is perhaps the best fertilizer, but I have some people near you who have been using uncomposted sheep manure.  This is fine, you may have some weeds coming up from the manure, but it would be a good choice, or you may use anything else that may be available.  Since you seem to see these bugs every year, you may just need to watch out at the time of year that they usually show up and start spraying the NEEM at that time.  I hope this information helps.  Please write back if you have any more questions.  Melissa