Hi everyone,
I have a small mandarin bush about 2 foot high planted in the spring. It got through summer in unspectacular fashion but had been having an autumn growth spurt (since I became a molasses/Fu convert) and was covered in new leaves emerging as well as some flowers. A couple of weeks ago I noticed that nearly every new leaf had the tell tale trail of the leafminer so I pulled off every leaf I could see with trails on it (more than 100 - sickening ).
The trouble is this is a battle I don't seem to be winning. I've started spraying the bush every few days with a water/veggie oil/detergent mix but each time I check, almost every new leaf has leafminer trails on it and I have to remove most of the ones that have grown since the last check. Is there anything else I can do? Is it sufficient to remove the leaves or do I have to prune entire branches? Should I be checking it every night so they don't get a chance to complete the lifecycle and hatch/lay more miners?
Thanks!