Chemical control
Spinosad can be used to control birch leafminers prior to extensive damage. Spinosad is a new chemical class of insecticides derived from a soil dwelling bacterium discovered in 1982. It is considered practically non-toxic to humans, pets, and beneficial insects. Unlike other insecticides, Spinosad will not harm beneficial insects including the Amber Marked Leafminer parasite.
Horticultural oil applications applied at the right time may help kill eggs or tiny larvae within the leaf tissue. Oil applications should be made as soon as adults have emerged in the spring and egg laying has occurred and should continue weekly until mid June. Pesticides made with botanical plant oils may be especially useful to prevent egg laying. Neem oil acts as a repellent and may interfere with the egg laying activity of female leaf miners.
Systemic insecticides are chemical pesticides that are absorbed into the tissues of plants. These pesticides make the entire plant, or parts of the plant, poisonous to insects that feed on the plant tissue. Most systemics are very toxic to people and pets. Trunk injections are confined to the tree's cambium layer, where it is carried to the leaf tissue by the movement of the tree's sap.
The evergreen bagworm, commonly known as bagworm, eastern bagworm, common bagworm, common basket worm, or North American bagworm, is a moth that spins its cocoon in its larval life, decorating it with bits of plant material from the trees on which it feeds.
The common asparagus beetle is an important pest of asparagus crops both in Europe and in North America. Asparagus is its only food plant. The beetle is 6.0 mm to 9.5 mm long and slightly elongated. It is metallic blue-black in color with cream or yellow spots on its red-bordered elytra. The larvae are fat gray grubs with dark heads.
The horse-chestnut leaf miner is a leaf-mining moth of the family Gracillariidae. The horse-chestnut leaf miner was first observed in North Macedonia in 1984, and was described as a new species in 1986. Its larvae are leaf miners on the common horse-chestnut. The horse-chestnut leafminer was first collected and inadvertently pressed in herbarium sheets by the botanist Theodor von Heldreich in central Greece in 1879.
The winter moth is a moth of the family Geometridae. It is an abundant species in Europe and the Near East and a famous study organism for evaluating insect population dynamics. It is one of very few lepidopterans of temperate regions in which adults are active in late autumn and early winter. The adults use endothermy for movement in these cold temperatures. The females of this species are virtually wingless and cannot fly, but the males are fully winged and fly strongly. After the initial frosts of late fall, the females emerge from their pupae, walk to and up trees and emit pheromones in the evening to attract males. After fertilization, they ascend to lay, on average, around 100 eggs each. Typically, the larger the female moth is, the more eggs she lays.
The light brown apple moth is a leafroller moth belonging to the lepidopteran family Tortricidae.
A leaf miner is any one of numerous species of insects in which the larval stage lives in, and eats, the leaf tissue of plants. The vast majority of leaf-mining insects are moths (Lepidoptera), sawflies, and flies (Diptera). Some beetles also exhibit this behavior.
Phthorimaea operculella, also known as the potato tuber moth or tobacco splitworm, is a moth of the family Gelechiidae. It is an oligophagous insect that feeds on the plant family Solanaceae and is especially known for being a major pest of potato crops. Currently farmers utilize insecticides, parasites, and sprinkler irrigation in order to prevent P. operculella from infesting their croplands.
The Mexican bean beetle is a species of lady beetle that can be an agricultural pest. It is one of the few North American lady beetles that feed on plants rather than other insects. It is found throughout Mexico and the eastern United States, and is abundant in the wetter and more heavily irrigated areas west of the Rocky Mountains. It does not tolerate extremely dry areas.
The diamondback moth, sometimes called the cabbage moth, is a moth species of the family Plutellidae and genus Plutella. The small, grayish-brown moth sometimes has a cream-colored band that forms a diamond along its back. The species may have originated in Europe, South Africa, or the Mediterranean region, but it has now spread worldwide.
Xanthogaleruca luteola, commonly known as the elm-leaf beetle, is a beetle species in the family Chrysomelidae that is native to Europe but invasive in other parts of the world.
The striped flea beetle is a small flea beetle, shiny black with a greenish tinge, 1.5 to 2.5 mm long, having a wavy amber line running the length of each elytron. It is a pest of cabbage and other brassicas. The hind legs are thickened, enabling the beetle to jump like a flea when disturbed.
Helicoverpa punctigera, the native budworm, Australian bollworm or Chloridea marmada, is a species of moth in the family Noctuidae. This species is native to Australia. H. punctigera are capable of long-distance migration from their inland Australian habitat towards coastal regions and are an occasional migrant to New Zealand.
The citrus leafminer is a moth of the family Gracillariidae. It is also known as CLM in agriculture. It was described by Henry Tibbats Stainton from India in 1856. It was first found in Florida, United States, in 1993, but is now found all over the world, including Argentina, Australia, Brazil, China, Corsica, Costa Rica, Cuba, India, Israel, Madeira, Malaysia, Mauritius, Mexico, the Philippines, South Africa, Spain, Sri Lanka and other parts of the United States.
Zygogramma exclamationis, commonly known as the sunflower beetle, is a species of leaf beetle belonging to the family Zygogramma. It is regarded as a pest of sunflower crops in North America.
Tomostethus multicinctus, the brownheaded ash sawfly, is a species of sawfly in the family Tenthredinidae that is native to southern Canada and the eastern United States. Adults of this species resemble wasps and the larvae feed on the leaves of ash trees.
Liriomyza sativae, commonly known as the vegetable leaf miner, is a species of insect, a fly in the family Agromyzidae. The larvae of this fly mine the leaves of a range of vegetables and weeds, but seem to favour plants in the families Cucurbitaceae, Fabaceae and Solanaceae.
Liriomyza huidobrensis, commonly known as the pea leaf miner, is a species of insect, a fly in the family Agromyzidae. The larvae of this fly mine the leaves and stems of peas and a range of other vegetables. It is also known as the serpentine leaf miner, but this name is also used for a closely related species, Liriomyza brassicae.
Liriomyza trifolii, known generally as the American serpentine leafminer or celery leafminer, is a species of leaf miner fly in the family Agromyzidae.
Profenusa thomsoni, the amber-marked birch leaf miner, is a species of sawfly in the family Tenthredinidae. It is native to the Palearctic realm but has spread to North America. The larvae feed on the foliage of birch trees.
Lathrolestes luteolator is a species of wasp in the family Ichneumonidae. it is native to North America and is a parasitoid of various species of sawfly larvae. In the 1990s, it started to parasitise the larvae of the invasive amber-marked birch leaf miner in Alberta. When this pest spread to Alaska, the wasp was used in biological pest control.
