Late this spring, our lemon tree became something of a frustration. Well, not so much the tree—more the ebb and flourish of a spider mite infestation. As the days lengthened and warmed, the mites made a pretty good run at things.
One evening, after a wee dram of
Scotch, I said to Desiree, “Maybe we need to drag the lemon tree outside. It
needs to toughen up.”
She gave me a sideways glance.
“Yeah?”
“Yeah. It’s a mite spreader. We need
to move it out for a while.”
So, we hauled it from the sunroom to
a spot off the back deck. Since then, the tree has had a full taste of Montana.
Temperatures have dropped close to freezing. Windstorms have slapped it silly.
A fierce hailstorm pummeled it mercilessly. Hot, dry days have baked it. And
for the last few weeks, it’s been hosting a big cat-faced spider.
Frankly, the lemon tree has taken a
beating. Many leaves are tattered and discolored.
But it’s hanging in there.
I suspect it’ll try a little harder
when we bring it back inside for the winter.
—Mitchell Hegman
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