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I am using Spinosad and Volk Oil in combination. I spray in the evening, when the sun is going down, wind has died down, and as the CLM moth comes out. I start spraying in the spring when it warms up (I've sprayed once so far), and then spray every 3 to 6 weeks for 3 applications in the spring. Then, I spray again, in the Fall, usually end of August or thereabouts. In between, I've used phermone traps from ISCA. I am loaded with CLM due to the abandoned orchard adjacent to my property. This has done a good job keeping my citrus in good shape so far. Just be careful not to spray if you're expecting high temps over the next 4 to 5 days, as the Volk oil can burn the leaves if it's really hot out. I'm going to do my 2nd spray this Saturday.

Thanks Patty. That is what I will do then if I can find Spinosad in my area.

Can you spray that with the trees blooming?

They don't seem to bother the Meyer as much but the Brown Select Satsuma was just planted two years ago has a bunch.

I've read a couple of places to just don't worry with them. Would that be a reasonable alternative?

Randy

I try to avoid bloom time if at all possible, but with lemons, that's sort of impossible. So, I try to stick to the few flush and any other tender-looking leaves. By spraying in the evening, you also miss all the bees. Spinosad is mildly toxic to honey bees, and I can attest to this, as I did have a few bees still out late in the evening, and I know they succumbed, which was really disturbing actually. But, as far as I know, this is the least toxic, and most affective treatment for CLM. All our our local citrus nurseries use this combination, and it has been very affective for them, and even for me with my high exposure.

The leaf miners are out already in your area? I do not see any leaf miner damage on the new leaves so far. Last year I had a severe infestation of leaf miners the worst ever since I have been growing citrus. Spinosad seems very effective but you will have to reapply after about two to three weeks.

This problem would be less severe if other people with citrus tress would spray for leaf miners and other pests. I find not long after spraying the leaf miners on other nearby plants migrate to my plants and the problems linger.

Yes, I get them in the spring and in the fall, unfortunately. This is due to the very large abandoned citrus orchard that is adjacent to my property, and flooding our neighborhood with CLM. We are all dealing with it, as just about everyone in my neighborhood has at least one citrus tree (and some of us a lot more ). That's why I use Volk oil with my spray. It makes the Spinosad last at least 3 weeks, usually a little longer if we don't get alot of rain, which of couse is a problem right now since we are getting rain nearly every week (and looks llike we might have a chance again this weekend).

I went out this morning to find the spray. Didn't find it but I have a couple more places to try.

What about pulling the curled leaves until I get the spray?

Randy

Probably won't help reduce the infestation, Randy. Better to leave the affected leaves, as they do help the plant respire. The brand I have is Monterrey. I found it at my local better garden center/nursery. Could not find it at the big box stores, but did find Volk oil there. I use a large pressure sprayer, and just mix both per their mixing instructions.

If you pull off all the CLM damaged leaves, as hoosierquilt wrote, it would reduce the tree's transpiration (cooling), it will also reduce photosynthesis (tree's food source), plus it certainly would not be worth your time. Concerning whether it is even worth bothering to control CLM, depends a lot on the size of the citrus tree. If the tree is a large mature citrus tree, most every commercial grower never bothers to control CLM, as they do very little damage to a large citrus tree. If the affected tree is a small young tree, then CLM could cause some damage, and sprays could be beneficial. - Millet (654-)

Millet is right. Citrus growers spray because they want their small trees to be healthy and look good. I spray both my mature and young trees because my poor mature trees were not well taken care of and are now flushing out like mad, and of course my young trees are nearly 100% affected. If I had large, super healthy trees, I probably wouldn't be so worried about it, but I am very heavily infested and between 90 and 100% of my new leaf flush are affected by CLM. Makes for a pretty ugly tree

Thanks everyone for the good advice. I will check those two other sources tomorrow.

This is the second year in the ground after acquiring the Brown Select from the nursery. The big Meyer is dealing with the little buggers just fine as y'all have noted.

When I studied up on growing apples, one article said one day you will look at a full shelf of chemicals and wonder how you got in so deep. What's one more chemical.

Randy

One more comment. Many people bother to spray their trees for CLM because they fear that the miner is damaging their tree, or for no other reason then they want a pretty tree (which is understandable). There is no reason to spray large citrus trees for CLM, as the damage done to them is negligible . Patty, unless your large mature trees are next to death's door and about to fall over, the CLM will do next to no damage to their health. Fortunately here in Colorado, we don't have CLM, no citrus diseases, no fungals nor viruses, and very few insects to bother our trees. - Millet (564-)

They all were, Millet 3 out of 4 of them were unrecognizable. The previous owners said, "I think this one is a lemon, maybe a Meyer?, not sure, and don't remember what the others are." 3 were completely denuded, except for a small handful of very damaged leaves. 1 of the denuded trees had 2 round fruit on it and thorns, so I figured it was a Meyer or a lime. The only tree that was recognizable was the little Meyer, which was full lovely lemons. I will continue spraying this year and probably next, until I can get all trees recovered to the point of having a nice canopy of healthy leaves. In fact, I JUST found another poor little citrus - think it's an orange tree of some sort, that was completey swallowed up by a gigantic Pride of Madeira plant, and stripped of leaves and bark from rat and ground squirrel damage. This little tree has a lot of very new flush trying to push out, so I'm going to try to save this guy, too. Poor trees.

I tried Neem Oil last year. Found it through Amazon. I sprayed once a week for about 3 weeks when miners infested my Washington Navel Tree. It worked out fine.

Then off and on, I found CLM's on my tree, I treated it as above, and the spray resolved it. I still have much of the concentrate left, but seems efficacy has lessened, but I can't be positive because Neem oil works slowly, but it does work.

Haven't noticed any CLM attacks this year yet.