Horse Chestnut Leaf Miner

Many trees locally have leaf miner. It causes leaf damage, as the larvae of Cameraria ohridella mine within the horse chestnut leaves. Severely damaged leaves shrivel and turn brown by late summer and fall early, well before normal leaf fall in the autumn.

Despite the poor appearance of horse chestnut trees infested with C. ohridella, there is no evidence that damage by the moth leads to a decline in tree health, the development of dieback, or tree death. Trees survive repeated infestations and re-flush normally in the following year.

It appears that most of the damage caused by the moth occurs too late in the growing season to greatly affect tree performance. Consequently, there is no reason to fell and remove trees just because they are attacked by C. ohridella.