Posts Tagged: leafminer
Caring for Citrus in Fall
[From the UC IPM blog Pests in the Urban Landscape] Citrus trees need care...
New Avocado Pest?
A new pest for avocado? Old pest? How much damage will it do? Don't know yet.
Tracy Ellis, the San Diego County Ag Commissioner Entomologist has partially identified what appeared to be two pest and a parasitoid, as only one pest and a beneficial that is doing it's duty going after the pest.
The insect determination has come back for both larvae (one a leaf miner and one a leaf roller) as the same insect! It has been determined to be C-rated gracillariid miner Caloptilia sp. (Lepidoptera: Gracillariidae) at this time. An image of the adult moth is not yet available.
Apparently, the larval stage transitions from a miner to a roller, in what's called hyper-metamorphosis. Starting as a miner and abandoning the mine to roll the leaf. CDFA scientist Marc Epstein is taking a closer look at this insect . Marc does not know if it is a local insect that adapted to avocados or is an import, as many in this family have not been studied or sequenced.
The leaf roller/folder has appeared down in San Diego and Santa Barbara. It's not clear whether it will be a pest of the fruit at this time.
The results for the parasite came back as Hymenoptera. That too needs greater study.
Above is a photo of both insect stages. They can be found together in the same habitat.
The damage from the leaf miner generally looks like this
And miner looks like this
The damage from the leafroller looks like this:
Larval leafroller with the parasite on it.
And the parasite , once it grows up from being a maggot, looks like this
It's still not clear what damage this might do. Maybe nothing significant. Maybe this is an aberration only for this year. Stay tuned.
Insect Pests on Citrus Trees
[This post has been modified from the article originally published in the Fall 2018 issue of the...
Citrus Leafminer
[This post has been modified from the article originally published in the Fall 2018...
Leaf Miners Attacking Veggies
Advice for the Home Gardener from the Help Desk of the
UC Master Gardener Program of Contra Costa County
Client' Request: Hi! What bug (or other cause) is responsible for my “Bright Lights” Swiss chard leaves to look dry and brown? (See pictures below) What can I do to fix this?
MGCC Help Desk Response: Thank you for contacting the UC Master Gardener Program's Help Desk with your problem with Swiss chard leaves turning brown.
It's likely that the issue is caused by leafminers. On vegetables, the most common leafminers are the larvae of small flies in the genus Liriomyza. Adult leafminers are small, active black flies. Their eggs are inserted into the leaves and the larvae feed between the leaf surfaces.
Leafminers can attack many different vegetables, including chard, tomatoes, peas, beans, spinach and lettuce. In warm weather, leafminers may be more active and there are as many as ten generations per year. The most obvious evidence of leafminers is the twisting trails (or mines) the larvae leave as they feed beneath the leaf surface. Mining usually has little impact on plant growth and rarely kills the plants. Damage will not be serious on most plants older than seedlings, though it makes chard or spinach leaves unsightly. The unaffected leaf areas are still edible.
Leafminers rarely require treatment in gardens. Be sure to provide proper care to the plants, especially irrigation, to keep plants vigorous. Clip off and remove older infested leaves. Small seedlings can be protected by a protective (i.e., frost) cloth. Leafminers are often kept under good control by natural parasites. Because the larvae are encased and thus protected in the leaves, insecticides are not very effective for leafminer control.
More information can be found at the UC ANR's integrated pest management website at http://ipm.ucanr.edu/PMG/GARDEN/VEGES/PESTS/vegleafminers.html.
Help Desk of the UC Master Gardener Program of Contra Costa County (LRF)
Note: The UC Master Gardeners Program of Contra Costa's Help Desk is available year-round to answer your gardening questions. Except for a few holidays, we're open every week, Monday through Thursday for walk-ins from 9:00 am to Noon at 75 Santa Barbara Road, 2d Floor, Pleasant Hill, CA 94523, although we will be moving this summer. We will notify you if/when that occurs. We can also be reached via telephone: (925)646-6586, email: ccmg@ucanr.edu, or on the web at http://ccmg.ucanr.edu/Ask_Us/ MGCC Blogs can be found at http://ccmg.ucanr.edu/HortCoCo/ You can also subscribe to the Biog (//ucanr.edu/blogs/CCMGBlog/)