This summer was the last stand for Junior the lemon tree.  Here in the Seattle area lemon trees do fine outside in the summer but the rest of the year they’re indoor plants.  The terms of Junior coming back into the house in the autumn were that he had to be free of scale and he had to grow a lemon.

I used white oil to get rid of the scale.  It worked like a charm.  There was no more scale, no more ants and no more aphids.  But it was up to Junior to grow a lemon.  I watched him hopefully all summer but all he grew was more leaves.  I hated to get rid of him but he’s turned out to be quite a lot of work for a plant that only gives back recurring bouts of scale.  And in all honesty we weren’t positive that Junior was really a lemon tree anyway.  So this morning The Man of the House took Junior out to the compost pile. 🙁

The experiment wasn’t a total loss.  I learned about white oil.  I found it to be safe and effective.  And maybe one day we’ll get another (or maybe a real) lemon tree.