Show I 1 I 1 fir V I 1 I 1 h LEAF BLISTER MITE DAMAGE small animal invisible to eye at tacks standard varieties of pear and apple trees red ked or green blister like spots appearing in ia the spring on the foliage of the apple and pear are usually due to the leaf blister mite this Is not an insect but a small animal invisible to the unaided eye which attacks standard varieties of pear and apple trees and often inflicts serious damage where trees are seriously infested the premature fall of both fruit and leaves may result in such cases a special application of lime sulphur wash 01 0 other spray may be necessary ordinarily however the regular orchard spraying is sufficient clent to control the mite badly infested branches of the pear trees may be cut off and burned care care should be taken not to confuse the work of the mite with the leaf spot disease or the results of heavy spraying the leaf blister mite passes the winter beneath the bud scales there it waits tor for the opening of the buds and attacks the young leaves as soon as they push out in the spring the tiny animals bore small holes from the underside of the leoy le into the interior Interi tir section of pear leaf showing structure of gall of blister mite 11 0 11 Pe arLeaf gall in cross section of Leaf Blister mite where they lay their eggs this causes the small elike galls on the surface of the leaves the spots later increase in size sometimes to 0 one ne eighth of an inch and on the pear tree alered are red and often brilliantly co colored lored as they grow in the case of the apple the eruptions lack the more brilliant coloring and are found more along the margin of the leaf in both cases the spots finally turn brown or black and if the pest Is abundant the leaves become ruptured and wrinkled more than varieties of apples are attacked by the mite injury being especially severe on some well known commercial sorts such as the ben da vs the king baldwin rhode island greening and the williams favo favorite rite where orchards are seriously infested as has been noted in new york state lime sulphur washes give excellent results they avoid the injurious effects upon fruit buds which sometimes result from the use of oil sprays the wash should b be e applied thoroughly coating the tw twigs digs and branches A standard solution of kerosene emulsion may also be used the stock solution should be diluted with five parts of water for spraying purposes on the pear the mites may be kept reduced to nn an important extent simply by b y searching out in tile the spring small branches hearing bearing worst infested leaves pruning these off and burning them or sprays may be employed exactly us as indicated for the apple it if this Is considered necessary except in cases of serious infestation special spraying for or the blister mite will not be necessary As to 1 I C ZT I 1 I 1 leaf blister alte I dorsal view 2 ventral view whether or not it Is advisable to spray the will have to decide after determining as exactly as Is possible the amount of injury that Is be ing done by the mites and care should be taken not to confound with its injury that which has resulted from fun glendal or parts green sprays and from leaf spot diseases |