What's eating my seville orange?

Seville orange is vulnerable to scale insects, citrus leafminer, aphids, and whitefly, much like other Citrus sinensis relatives. Its use as rootstock and in marmalade production means healthy foliage matters. Scale and sooty mold from honeydew-producing insects are the headline concerns. Horticultural oil and natural enemies are the main defense.

Crusty or waxy bumps on bark, twigs, and fruit; honeydew leads to sooty mold blackening leaves and reducing photosynthesis. Horticultural oil during crawler emergence in spring; scrub light scale off by hand; avoid broad-spectrum sprays to protect parasitic wasps.

Silvery mines through new leaf tissue; leaves curl and fail to expand properly; young trees particularly vulnerable. Limit nitrogen flushes; let parasitic wasps (Pnigalio, Cirrospilus) provide natural control; spinosad only as a last resort.

Tightly curled, sticky new shoots; distorted leaves on vigorous water shoots; honeydew and sooty mold. Remove water shoots promptly; insecticidal soap; trunk bands to exclude ant bodyguards.

White adults flutter from foliage when disturbed; nymphs on leaf undersides produce honeydew causing sooty mold. Yellow sticky traps; neem oil or insecticidal soap to leaf undersides; introduce Encarsia parasitic wasps.