Is my Mandarin tree gonna die? Curled up and burnt leaves...

Last year, we bought a Mandarin tree and plopped it in the ground - and it has been producing fruit since the day we got it home. I've gotten so used to plucking a Mandarin for breakfast or a midnight snack that I can't bear to think it might be sick ... so, perhaps I'm being alarmist, but ... Here's a picture of these curled up burnt looking leaves on our tree. Are these an indication of a problem? Should we trim these branches back? Could it be a fungus? New leaves seem unaffected and the tree is still fruiting, but .... I don't want to ignore a warning sign.

nerp, from the photo it looks like leaf miners. If it is...... there is not much you can do except keep the tree healthy. The good news is they do not effect the fruit and other than being cosmeticaly ugly don't do much harm to the tree.

I would cut a branch end with the effected leaves and take it to a knowledgable nursery man in your area for confirmation of what it is. From just looking at a picture I could be wrong in my opinion and it might be something you can address more directly. Leaf miners prefer attacking new growth, so if your pruning them off encourages new growth you will be defeating your own goal.

When I consulted an arborist about them, I was told to learn to live with them.

I'll take a stem off to our local nursery ... here's a closer pic of the damage though.

Nerp

... and just for the heck of it ... one more....

Another option is to take a sample and place it in a plastic baggie. Take the sample to your county extension agent in Ventura. Not nurserymen are knowledgeable. County agents have extensive services available through UC Davis

http://ceventura.ucdavis.edu/

Nerp, if you do consult a local expert, regardless of where you find your expert, please share with us what she/he has to say. Thanks.

Dlmcgrw is right. Definitely leaf miner. Every once in a while you see them also attack the tender stems as shown in your photo.
You can ignore on a large tree but they do stunt younger trees and open up a path for secondary infections.
Spinosad and light horticultural oils are normally used to kill and prevent these buggers.
Oldude

Yes leaf miner for sure. Also I second the oil route.

I spray a light canola oil on my citrus twice a year and it doesn't stop leaf miners. It may slow them down....., but I have no way of knowing that for sure because I spray all my citrus and have nothing left unsprayed for comparison. I am not familiar with spinosad, but that is probably because almost all "effective" pesticides have been banned in California. Like I said above I have learned to live with leaf miners, but they can sure uglify a tree.

Dlmcgrw
The leaf miner will not lay eggs on a leaf that has been sprayed with light all season horticultural oil. I keep a small spray bottle around and spray the new growth as often as possible at the first sign of the tunnels. Once the new growth has hardened they leave it alone until the next new growth occurs. In the spring I am spraying new growth with oil as often as once a week.
Spinosad is considered organic so you should be able to find it at Lowe’s or Home depot. Agri-Mek (Abamectin) does a better job than Spinosad but it is very expensive.
Oldude

oldude, I could not keep up with spraying once a week. Too many other things to do and I am also an old dude. A spray bottle would take me a month to cover my trees just one time. I use a battery powered 20 gallon wagon mounted sprayer. I will try to find either or both of the products you mention. Thanks for the info., it would be great if I can find either of them and eliminate these pesty leaf miners.

If you have a full on orchard that is a totally different matter. You need to go with the good stuff. Oil will work but you have to time it right. Try a commercial product containing AVERMECTIN/ ABAMECTIN/ IVERMECTIN.

I probably was not clear, but I am only spraying the new flushes of growth on 13 citrus trees and that really doesn’t take a lot of time. I walk through my orchard almost every day so it gets done over the period of the whole week. The older trees where I can not reach the new growth are on their own with total tree oil spraying about three or four times per year.
Core , Did you ever find the blood orange tree that you were looking for last year?
Oldude

Yes I did fine a blood orange locally. Also the leaf curl problem took care of it's self apparently. Looks like thrips were the problem. I used neem oil on the trees but I had no problem with the second flush of leaves. In fact after the hurricane Fay they started growing like crazy, they just needed a good drink. We got maybe 7 inches of rain from that and it kicked my citrus into over drive, all look healthy as can be. My peaches seem to be much more of a problem. I got peaches from them but they are becoming my unfavorite fruit trees.

So - Just to followup for everyone on this thread ... two local nurseries identified the source of my leaf mining problem as citrus leaf miners, and I've since confirmed these little moths visually.

http://www.ipm.ucdavis.edu/PMG/r107303211.html

I'll keep you folks updated on our attempt to control them. I'm thinking about getting a phermone trap and spraying with oil as olddude mentioned. THANKS for all of the responses on this.

Peace!
Nerp

Nerp
This spring I will be experimenting with the yellow sticky traps. The Citrus leaf miner moth is attracted to the yellow color. It’s not a preventative measure but should give me early warning of their presence in my orchard.
Hope your battle with this pest is successful.
Oldude