Is leaf minor pest transmittable to my orchids??

[Dazed]

This is urgent, cause the safety of my plants hang in the balance! Last week one of my plants ( not an orchid) was stolen off my front patio where I kept most of my plants . So to avoid me ending up in jail for someone, I moved them into the back yard under my sour orange tree. It provided the right kind of protection from the sun until I can get my partner to bring the beginnings of my new shade house. from his garage.

Now here's where the problem is; I just and when I say just I mean less than a half hour ago, found something was making zigzag tunnels in the tree's leaves. Upon googling it I learned about the leaf minor pest. This is the first time I've seen this on my tree so I'm freaking out as to what is going to happen to my plants that have been under the tree for the past 4 days. I haven't found any thing on line saying if it transmittable to my orchid, succulents and ferns. Do any of you pros know anything? I'll be looking on line for any answers in the mean time.

[Kmac]

I've never had them, but I found a bit online (try googling with it spelled like this Leaf Miner: These are little grubs that is responsible for spreading virus-related disease that destroy leaves and stems of orchids. You should cut away any damaged stems and apply a systemic insecticide.

I wouldn't freak, bcs your orchids may well have not gotten them...but it sounds like they can.

[Dazed]

Kathi for the spelling correction, that helped a lot. Now I have to pick the lesser of the 2 evils; put my plants back in the front patio where some one can swipe another or hope nothing happens by time my partner gets back from his business trip on Monday. I did some more research and neem oil seems to be able to control the adult flies and in turn the li'l runts they produce. Luckliy I have a large neem tree in front of the house so I am going to make a tea with it and spray everything. I am going to have to pick a few leaves to put in a ziplock bag to monitor for the adult development so I can catch the buggards with their pants down.

[PaphMadMan]

I think your orchids are probably not at risk. Not all leaf miners are created equal. It is a general term applied to probably hundreds of different species of larvae of moths, sawflies, flies, wasps and beetles that happen to share the habit of tunnelling within leaf tissue. Many of them have a rather limited range of host plant species. It is rather unlikely that one species would attack plants of both family Rutaceae (like citrus) and Orchidaceae, which are about as distantly related as any 2 angiosperm families can be.

Also, many leaf miners would live out their larval lives within one leaf where mom put the egg. As individuals they wouldn't spread to another plant or even another leaf. Only when another generation of eggs is spread around would they get to another plant, and then no host plant within your yard would be safe since the adults can fly. Your orchids are probably as safe as they can be right where they are.