[Janet Ibbotson]

I planted a lemon tree for a friend in March 2013.  It is of a reasonable size and around six to eight years old.  The variety is "Evercrop".  It is on an exposed site but protected by a wall.  It is irrigated and is doing well though the branches on the windward site are suffering a little.  The tree has plenty of fruit and most of the fruit now on the tree has formed since it was planted.  Unfortunately, most of the fruit seems to have lots of very small mid-brown spots on the flesh and most of the spots are in what I would call the pores or pits of the flesh with the biggest concentration at the stem end.  The fruit is otherwise undamaged and of a good size.

I have checked my books and looked on the internet but have come up with nothing.  Does anyone know what is causing the damage and how to remedy it?

[Trevor Australis]

Sounds much like brown scale. If you can scratch it off with a fingernail it probably is. You might need a small magnifying glass to see but under the tiny brown scale there should be a minute white spot that is the insect itself. A winter oil spray should kill it but the scale and the dead insect will stay in situ. The scale are 'farmed' by ants for their sugary excretions, on which they feed. Controlling the ants will fix the problem more permanently.

[Janet Ibbotson]

Thank you Trevor that is, I think, the correct diagnosis.  I don't have a magnifier here but I've just tried scraping them with my fingernail and the brown spots flake off very much like other forms of scale insects.  I had assumed the brown was caused by some sort of damage so hadn't tried to remove them before.