One of the most common issues with citrus growers is leaf miner. I have faced this multiple times and tried different methods to treat it. This helped me find the best solution to get rid of leaf miners on citrus trees.
It is not necessary that the leaf miner-affected leaf look like the picture I have shown at the top. You need to understand how leaf miners work.
The leaf miners eat up a specific layer of a leaf and find their way like tunnels. This is the reason you can see tunnel-like spots on a leaf miner-attacked leaf.
Note: For lemon trees, leaf miners usually eat the bottom layer of the top transparent layer. When they eat up the layer, the top transparent layer gets detached from the leaf, this is the reason we see those spots on the citrus leaves.
If two tunnels are connected, you can see large spots. Some of the leaf miners eat the leaf in a circular motion, which can also create large spots.
In one of my articles, I talked about blotch leaf miner. ( you can see the image there )
Treatment - Citrus leaf miner
A lot of popular insecticides do not work on leaf miners. The reason is:
- They are found inside the mines and the insecticides we use do not reach inside the mines quite well.
Products that contain imidacloprid in it can be used. This is the best solution so far but I will not recommend this if you want to attract butterflies in your garden. If possible apply this at least a month ago of blooming season.
Tip: Follow the application instructions as per the product guidelines. It is not usually recommended to apply more than twice a year.
Another option is to use natural insecticides azadirachtin/spinosad.
You have to read the instructions on the product package. (In my experience they work for 2 weeks at most)
I have tried neem oil and they don't seem to work for more than 1 week.
If you need any help or further suggestion feel free to contact me from the contact button. I would be happy to assist you.
To be honest natural methods do not work as expectation.
