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I hate leaf-miners with a passion. I planted a bunch of citrus trees a while ago, and citrus leaf-miners (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phyllocnistis_citrella h

I hate leaf-miners with a passion. I planted a bunch of citrus trees a while ago, and citrus leaf-miners (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phyllocnistis_citrella https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phyllocnistis_citrella) took a great liking to them. They nearly killed a few of the trees – and this is in a backyard with me attending to them pretty much every day. I hate to think of the industrial-scale agricultural damage these little jerks must inflict on commercial citrus orchards. But, they seem to be really hard to combat. Efforts to do so (without blanket use of synthetic pesticides) are few, for whatever reason, and anecdotally of questionable efficacy (I managed to track down some pheremone-driven leaf-miner moth traps, which caught a lot of the buggers but didn't really solve anything). Eventually I figured out that a combination of neem oil and spinosad (Captain Jack's Deadbug Brew) would kill the larval ones, but it didn't kill the eggs and so it would have to be applied every 4 days or so in order to make any progress. I. guess things like that are one of the reasons organic produce is more expensive – some of these things that nature throws at you are hard to combat without using broad-spectrum poison.

space_fountain 6y ago
A note. Typically non organic pesticides are less broad spectrum poisons but applied in higher concentrations since they "can't" hurt humans
type_enthusiast 6y ago
To contrast leaf-miners with other agricultural pests – before the leaf-miners came to town, we also had a bunch of Giant Swallowtail Butterflies (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Papilio_cresphontes https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Papilio_cresphontes) that made their homes in our citrus trees. Their caterpillars never did too much damage, and the annual presence of huge, striking butterflies was pretty enjoyable. Sadly, I think our (organic) efforts to get rid of the leaf-miners also killed off the butterflies.
bekindandopen 6y ago
I once had the opportunity to talk with some apple growers in Washington (state). They said that they regularly sprayed their trees with a mix of water and soft detergent early in the season, to prevent parasites and larvae from taking hold. As I understood it, they viewed soap as a simple solution. It was not completely organic and natural, but it helped to keep pests away and it did not seem to cause undue harm to the orchards or the apples.
- type_enthusiast 6y ago
  Interesting, I'll give that a try this Spring! Thanks for the tip. Soapy water in general doesn't seem like something that's problematic as far as eating the oranges later... whether it's technically "organic" or not is secondary for me. I guess that maybe raises an eyebrow about what "organic" means, if soapy water isn't acceptable. The second year of the leaf-miners, I would go out there every morning and look for affected leaves, just so I could squish the little bugger inside the leaf before it could become an adult moth. It was satisfying, but never really helped.

space_fountain 6y ago

A note. Typically non organic pesticides are less broad spectrum poisons but applied in higher concentrations since they "can't" hurt humans

type_enthusiast 6y ago

To contrast leaf-miners with other agricultural pests – before the leaf-miners came to town, we also had a bunch of Giant Swallowtail Butterflies (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Papilio_cresphontes https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Papilio_cresphontes) that made their homes in our citrus trees. Their caterpillars never did too much damage, and the annual presence of huge, striking butterflies was pretty enjoyable. Sadly, I think our (organic) efforts to get rid of the leaf-miners also killed off the butterflies.

bekindandopen 6y ago

I once had the opportunity to talk with some apple growers in Washington (state). They said that they regularly sprayed their trees with a mix of water and soft detergent early in the season, to prevent parasites and larvae from taking hold. As I understood it, they viewed soap as a simple solution. It was not completely organic and natural, but it helped to keep pests away and it did not seem to cause undue harm to the orchards or the apples.

type_enthusiast 6y ago
Interesting, I'll give that a try this Spring! Thanks for the tip. Soapy water in general doesn't seem like something that's problematic as far as eating the oranges later... whether it's technically "organic" or not is secondary for me. I guess that maybe raises an eyebrow about what "organic" means, if soapy water isn't acceptable. The second year of the leaf-miners, I would go out there every morning and look for affected leaves, just so I could squish the little bugger inside the leaf before it could become an adult moth. It was satisfying, but never really helped.