A leaf miner?
 

To all,

This is my first post, so thanks in advance for any help :)

I live in Saudi Arabia and have a small garden here. We plant tomato seeds every year, from both Thailand and the UK, but we always seem to have the same problem with, what I think is some form of leaf miner, but I don't know.

I have attached some pictures from 'stage 1' to 'stage 3' where the plant leaves just roll up and die.

I really don't know what this pest is, but it's very annoying.

Does anyone know what might be causing this problem and how I can solve it?

Many thanks,
Simon.

Tuta absoluta?
A quite serious attack.

gosh darnoodley, that's already quite advanced. It's most likely not tuta, as that one has different pattern.
Read here (with google translate) for some insecticides (some are bio approved), usually they say you need to alternate at least 2 to be really efficient.

[url]http://www.horticultorul.ro/insecte-boli-daunatori-fungicide-insecticide-ingrasaminte-pesticide/musca-miniera-americana-liriomyza-trifolii/[/url]

Definitely leaf miners.
Yellow sticky traps. The flies that lay the leafminer larvae are strongly attracted to the bright yellow and they stick to the glue. I put them out at plant level every 5 feet.

Make sure to get the Seabright labs brand, others are too sticky and will capture birds and pull out feathers. I learned that the hard way!

I get them on Amazon, about $17 for a pack of 15. I buy 3 at a time to get the free shipping, it doesn't spoil on a shelf.

ilex,

Thanks for the information. It may well be the Tuta Absolute, as my wife said she had seen similar types of moths around as the one in your pictures.

If it is, then it seems like a right bugger to shift :(

Zipcode,

Thanks for the information. I will look into this and see what they recommend. One of my friends uncle is a tomato farmer in Greece and when I sent him the pictures he said it was liriomyza, but I couldn't find the right pesticide to get rid of them. Perhaps Ginger2778's recommendation of the traps might be the best way to go.

Thanks very much for the assistance :)

To Ginger2778,

Thanks for the info. I will order some of these when I get back to the UK in a few weeks and see how we get on when we get back to the sandpit. Not much grows here, so we try and do our bit by having tomatoes, chills, mint and eggplants, but these leaf miners have been a right pain.

Fingers crossed you've given us the solution.

Many thanks,
Simon.

To all,

Well, the planting season here in Saudi Arabia began about 6 weeks ago, and our old 'friend' is back.

This time, my wife was able to see the bugger in question, both laying the eggs and then at the time of hatching. I don't know if anyone can identify this fly / moth in question, or give me any more details on the eggs (the orange pellet looking things), but any assistance would be greatly received.

I did buy the yellow sticky traps and they worked pretty well, but, as you can see from the picture, these buggers won't give up. I purchased the yellow colour traps, but perhaps the blue ones might be better for this particular fly / moth, depending on what it is?

Thanks in advance,
Simon.

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WOWEE! You have unbelievable leaf miner damage.

To all,

I think I found the culprit.

Liriomyza huidobrensis (serpentine leafminer).

Good news that I have found the culprit, but seems like they are very resistant to insecticides. The sticky yellow traps and constant lavae management seem to be the most commonly suggested solutions, but the following chemicals were suggested:

abamectins, neem and spinosad

I think I might try the Spinosad or Neem route first, as I couldn't find much in the way of abamectins pesticide.

Thanks,
Simon.

Yup!

It's awful and we seem to have it every year. This is our last year here in Saudi, so hopefully we won't encounter this pest on our next travel, but depends where we go.

For such a bad infestation, I had great results with Monterey Garden Insect Spray. It contains Spinosad (Espinosad) which really does work on leaf miners. I bought it on Amazon. Seems like you are on the right track. Be sure to spray it after the sun goes down. Good luck!

[QUOTE=Hulamom;609434]For such a bad infestation, I had great results with Monterey Garden Insect Spray. It contains Spinosad (Espinosad) which really does work on leaf miners. I bought it on Amazon. Seems like you are on the right track. Be sure to spray it after the sun goes down. Good luck![/QUOTE]

Hulamom - Yes, I was thinking of using this product too. It's almost impossible to import any pesticides into Saudi, perhaps they think we're going to drink them :), so we'll be picking some up when we visit Thailand in the next few weeks.

Have you ever used Neem Oil, or just the spinosad?

Thanks,
Simon.

Aloha Simon
I've used neem oil for other things like to drench soil gnats but I didn't have any success with leaf miners. With the Spinosad, I found I only needed to spray the leaves and just the top of the potting mix under the plant (I grow in containers) to stop the cycle. This is usually early on when the plants are young and before there are any tomatoes. A friend of mine uses the neem oil with a few drops of dish soap and a bit of Simple Green. She said it works for a lot of different pests but it didn't work on the leaf miners. I gave her some spray with Spinosad and she was amazed that it worked after battling leaf miners for so many years.