Garden Tool Set

Lime Nail Gall Mite

Symptoms: The galls are around 5mm long as seen in the photographs and begin from late spring onwards. This occurs on the leaves of Lime trees, such as Common Lime.

Cause: is due to the chemicals secreted  while feeding on the underside of the leaf by a gall mite that is microscopic and goes by the name of Eriophyes tiliae. The galls are hollow and the mite lives within them during the summer.

Control: The mites don't have any harmful effects on the tree other than creating the galls. They can therefore be tolerated. In some ways, I find them quite interesting and exotic - however, I can see that some may not!