Cynthia, does it look like the picture below? If it does its probably Citrus Leaf Miners? Also see if the leaves have these squiggly lines on them and curled up leaves. Unfortunately they are on most of the Citrus here in FL :o(...they're awful and very difficult to get rid of. Young citrus are more sensitive to them, but the more mature trees can handle them better and won't affect the fruits...just the leaves. I don't know anything safe or organic for them. I hoping to find something safe to used on them on my young/small Satsuma tangerine as well.

Yes, it kinda does look like that. No one has any suggestions?

Hi Cynthia

If you used the bayer for citrus already, you should see less damage from future insects but if the tree already had damage, that is probably what is left on the tree. What I do is cut any new growth that is damaged, last season I cut my Meyer lemon drastically and after spraying it showed improvement, I had a good harvest. You have to keep inspecting the trees to avoid future problems...

Nancy - You can do the same like I told Cynthia and after that you can use spinosad that is organic, usually I mix with a drop or two of Bonners's peppermint soap, and I spray either early morning or late in the afternoon.
When I took the Echo fruit tree growing tour, they said the same thing about their trees but when people asked what they use they were very vague about their organic treatment, they only said organic type of oil and someone asked neem? and they said no.
We have an eco friendly type of pest control for the house and they also have a service for organic controls on the fruit trees but they are very pricy, so I do my own.:)

Today's citrus that periodically gets cut any insect damage.

Meyer lemon

Page orange

Red lime

Silvia

Oh Silvia, your citrus trees looks so healthy!!! I can wait till you make more myer lemon jam, that was soooo good.
What are we planting next and when?
I had a real good harvest at our community garden and thanx to your expert advice and encouragement I'm doing a lot of canning with all my produce,
thank you so much for all you have done for me and given loads of stuff.

Carmen

organiside.....hd, fish oil. sesame oil, a hardener, works great. 3tbls. per gallon, suffocates anything. fish oil residue inhibits new growth of anything else. one bottle lasts for years. use it on orchids, sago's(mixed with malathion), veggies.....late in the day use, shade hopefully, might burn, but will come back ok......great stuff!

Hi Carmen!

I was just thinking about you today, great news about your community garden and the canning, anytime if you want any recipes, I have tons of approved canning books. I just made the best jam ever with my blackberries today, next I will do figs my tree is loaded!. Tomorrow I have a meeting with our town community garden and I will report on what are we planting. Keep in touch...

Silvia

Thanks Silvia, your Citrus trees are so healthy looking! My young/small Meyer didn't bloom this year :o(...actually it did bloom in March...but the CLM were SO bad I sprayed it with Neem oil thinking it would be okay...but ALL the blooms fell off. Does your Meyer bloom more than once a year? I'm hoping it will bloom once more sometime this year. I would hate to have to wait till March to see it bloom again.

Wllisadi, thanx for the info I'm going to try that cuz my meyer lemon isn't looking that good either.
Carmen

Nancy, I have not paid attention to the blooming times here but to me they seem that they produce all year. I always have either the ripe, unripe fruit, blooms or a combination. And I start using the lemons while they are green but fully developed.
I had a Meyer in Arizona and the same thing happened when I spray neem, at least your tree is still looking good and I am sure that you will get blooms again just keep the schedule for fertilizing.
One thing I know for sure in my area, a lot of my neighbors had killed a Meyer lemon, I don't know what they did...

Silvia

I read that aphids can make citrus leaves curl.

Thanks Silvia! I might try Volck oil (Ortho)...it did wonders on my Sago Palm with the Asian scale. It does say its safe for Citrus so I might give it it a try since I already have it on hand...now while there's No blooms on the tree would probably be the best time to spray it. I'm definitely applying more fertilizer as soon as some rain is in the forecast...we haven't had any rain in a week while all around us has been getting TONS of it. Strange about your other neighbors losing their Meyer trees.

Zackey, I've had Aphids too last year...they seem to love my Meyer tree :o(

I have aphids on my queen myrtle I need to deal with, but it's a more mature tree and doesn't seem to be suffering too much.

I'll try the spinosad (not sure where to get it but I'll look) and thanks.

Nancy - Now that you mention volck oil, I remember that the owner of a local fruit and tropical nursery recommended, he said that is what he uses.

Cynthia - One of my neighbors had a terrible infestation problem with all sorts of bugs including aphids in his bushes near me, so we asked our pest control guy to spray, he said he used the same oil that he uses on the citrus and voila! after 2 applications the problem was solved, while my neighbor was also spraying something that did not work. But because they will want us to use their expensive service, they won't tell us what they use.
Spinosad will work for some things but not for others and I usually get it in my hydroponics store. There is also a product found in HD called Bonide citrus, fruit and nut orchard spray, maybe that is more specific to the problem. I have not sprayed for a long time anything but is also about time in my yard, with all those rains I have been waiting...

Silvia

I have just checked with Ortho about their Volck Oil as my Meyer lemons also have a heavy infestation of leaf miners. They said that Volck Oil won't work but that they recommend their Flower, Fruit and Vegetable Insect Killer. Anyone tried this?
I think I will be leaving Nature to do what it will as my trees are in my butterfly garden. I am not going to wipe out the butterflies and bees!
Pity because this is the first year I am going to harvest fruit. Last year I had 12 lovely lemons on the tree until the very day I was intending to pick them but someone got there first and took every single one!