It's time to check your citrus trees for the tell tale round swellings along the branches that indicate your tree has citrus gall wasp.

Prune them out and immerse the galls in water to drown the lavae of the wasp, is the latest method advocated by Kaye Roberts Palmer of Melbourne's Save our Citrus Campaign Group, to actually kill the lavae by drowning.

Kaye Roberts Palmer and Kylie Johnston, of the Save Our Citrus Campaign are calling on all of us this, to check our lemon, orange, lime and other citrus trees this first weekend of September, coinciding with Father's Day, for citrus gall wasp, which is fatal to citrus trees if left unchecked. This weekend is the last opportunity to act before this year's lavae hatch, with the onset of warmer weather.

They suggest buying dad a pair of secateurs for Father's Day for the purpose.

If dad is not into gardening, or not around, simply get out your favourite secateurs and loppers and go for it. Citrus should be pruned and opened up to a nice vase shape, with good airflow and kept to a height for easy picking. In any case, they love nothing better than a good prune, this time of the year and will flourish as a result.

Citrus have shallow roots and are heavy feeders, so now is also the time to dress your citrus with a good layer of aged cow manure, lots of lovely compost and a dose of iron chelates if their leaves are on the yellow side, indicating iron deficiency.

Absolutely all gall wasps should be cut from your tree, no matter how drastic this seems.

From my own experience in Pascoe Vale, I once had to reduce my Eureka Lemon to a mere skeleton of main branches. Everyone else expected my lemon to die, except me. Lemons are vigourous growers, when in good health and several months later my lemon had shot on and was looking as glorious as ever.

In areas where citrus grow in every backyard, trees with gall wasp left unchecked have the potential to infest the entire neighbourhood, as the tiny lavae are readily blown across a wide area on the wind.

It's up to all of us to work to erradicate this nasty and potentially fatal citrus pest from our citrus trees!

For photos of the citrus galls and lavae and more information about the Save Our Citrus Campaign, follow this link.

Ballarat is considered marginal for citrus growing, due to our cold, frosty winters and high levels of wind. However, do not let this deter you from attempting citrus!

My Wendouree garden has a flourishing citrus grove, including a tahitian lime which annually produces a bumper crop. It is, in fact my most prolific cropping citrus!

Meyer lemons are considered the best frost and cold tolerant citrus variety, and generally produce excellent crops in Ballarat, but their fruit is way sweeter than other lemons. My Lisbon lemon regularly crops well, whilst my Eureka, also produces a respectable crop, but nothing like the extraordinary yields from my experience of this variety in Melbourne!

I am also trialling a finger lime, a citrus indigenous to northern New South Wales. It is too young to have yet fruited, but the tree is establishing well.

Cumquats in pots, in a sheltered north west facing position alsos thrive. Those here are well over 20 years old and still producing well.

I have also known friends and neighbours to get excellent harvests from both pink and standard grape fruits.

Last year I lost a sapling Imperial Mandarin, not to frost, but from Whippet Boy's ring barking efforts, so I intend replanting this, as well as my favourite variety; Blood Orange!

Before you go out and purchase as many citruses as I have, make sure you have an ideal position, protected from both wind and frost. I recommend a sheltered north-west spot. If you can provide this then most citrus varieties I have mentioned here will be very happy and reward you with a good yield.

One huge advantage of growing citrus here, is that gall-wasp doesn't seem to enjoy our cool, windy conditions.

I prune my citrus to allow good air circulation in late August. In early autumn and spring, I feed them with blood and bone and lashings of well rotted cow manure, and mulch with peastraw in spring, keeping the mulch well away from the trunk, to avoid fungal disease.

Any sign of yellowing leaves is a signal to apply iron chelates, as it indicates a deficiency of iron in the soil.

Citrus benefit from a good weekly watering in summer, but during the drought still bore fruit with very irregular watering. Most of this was from grey water sources. All continued to fruit well!