Garden Pests and Diseases: Friend or Foe?, 1 by Night_Bloom

Night_Bloom wrote:
bluekat, I can't be sure, but it might be phylloxera (family Phylloxeridae). They can cause "galls" (not quite true galls in some cases, because they aren't always closed) on leaves and are sometimes associated with waxy, fibrous balls inside the galls. I don't unfortunately have any pictures of the waxy, fibrous balls, but I do have a microscope picture of a phylloxera gall. This one is a stem gall so yours will look a bit different if this is what you have, but this is what the critters look like anyway.

Other things that might cause leaf curl are thrips and mites... Mites might have "fibers" asscoiated with them if they are spider mites. The fibers look like spider webbing. Thrips shouldn't have any fibers that I know of. I would try searching for information and images of phylloxera first and go from there.

If it is Phylloxeridae, they are related to aphids, so a systemic such as imidicloprid (like Bayer Advanced) will work well and be low impact on other critters. (it should also work on the thrips. The mites, however, probably not.) If you really want to be sure, take some leaves to the local extension office and tell them what things you suspect. They should be able to confirm what you've got.