How do I get rid of little worms in my lemon tree leaves?

Question

I have a lemon tree tht has little 1/4inch worms that tunnel through the leaves. The leaves start off with littl serpentine lines throughout them then they wrinkle up. The worms spread pretty fast. I cut off every single leaf from the tree and sprayed the bark with insecticide. The leaves came back and the worms came back. I scanned the leaf to show the animal. Go to picasaweb.google.com and search lemon tree leaf worm.

Answer 1

Citrus leafminers are a relatively new pest of citrus. There is no practical way for a home owner to control them. They will not affect the new growth in the spring, but do alot of damage later in the year as populations increase.
If it is a young tree you can drench the soil with an insecticide containing imidacloprid. You can buy this in Home depot or Lowes, made by Bayer. You will have to look at the active ingredients on the label.

http://www.doacs.state.fl.us/pi/enpp/ento/clm.html

Answer 2

If you're like me, you didn't have this problem until the last few years - actually two years for me. It's probably a leaf-miner that arrived in California from Mexico in about 2000.

It affects only the new growth and it's on all of my citrus, not just the lemon and it's hard to get rid of. I tried oil sprays and sprays for worms. They kept right on going.

Try this link for more information ipm.ucdavis.edu
Click University.... then under How to manage pests click Agriculture and Floriculture click Citrus and under Insects, Mites and Snails find Lepidaptera and click on citrus leaf-miner.

Answer 3

Soap/water solution...it's the only thing that worked for my Meyer tree. I had hundreds of ants and also some disgusting little eggs of some sort stuck all over the branches (possibly aphids). The guy at OSH told me to fill about 1/2" of dish soap to a spray bottle, then add water (I filled bottle about half way with water). I went outside on a cloudy day and just sprayed the heck out of my poor little Meyer. That was about 9 months ago, and now I have beautiful Meyer lemons ripening on my sweet little tree.

Answer 4

sounds like citrus leaf miner -use dimethoate except on 'Meyer' lemons for these use maldison, as per directions. If these products are no longer available on the market go to your local nursery and explain the problem and they should be able to provide you with an equivilent pesticide. White oiling citrus plants regularly can some times help to deter pests. Unfortunately, all fruit trees & vege's require regular applications of pesticides/fungicides - (organic or otherwise) in order to keep plants healthy and get quality produce.... and dont for get to fertilize, there are
pre-mixed preperations available for citrus trees.
Good luck.

Answer 5

They are called leaf miners and are the larva of one of several different moths or beetles. They are hard to control with insecticide because they are protected inside the leaf. You can reduce the numbers by planting "trap crops" nearby.
Check Wikipedia for more info.

Answer 6

I use Dawn dish detergent and water spraying the lemon tree and I use it
on our tomato plants. If it rains I spray again the next day. Works good.