Fig tree skeletoniser moth

I have a mature container brown turkey fig tree which I grow for foliage - I don't like figs.
for the past few years, I've had infestations of this moth. I spray just before the buds break late winter as there's nothing else about and that slows it down until early summer but I don't spray after that. I do a bit of squishing but the leaves are already damaged.
Apart from spite, is there any point in killing the grubs? If I pruned back all the leaves, would I break the cycle? I haven't noticed anyone else growing figs but who knows.

 

I grow figs but have never heard of it, not sure I want to, sounds like a big problem.

 

It is. I'm not sure if it affects the fruit but parts of the leaves get rolled up with a web in the middle and a little green bggggr underneath. The eggs are laid in the unopened bud and emerge when a leaf grows. If you're not quick to squish, they scuttle back into the bud and hide.

 

@pete here you go Fig leaf skeletoniser / RHS

 

I hope it stays in London

Not seen any yet but not really been looking, fig has always been one plant that never seemed to suffer from any pests

 

I have never heard of the pest but to get rid of it I think you may need to spray earlier in the year to kill the moth or bug that lays the eggs. Break the reproduction cycle. It would be quite a job to spray underneath the leaves where the eggs or caterpillars hang out.

 

I dug up my fig tree (it was only 3 years old but was a nightmare to do) because of this. I had tried squishing daily but I just couldn't keep up. It seemed healthy otherwise and always put out new fresh leaves, but it looked awful and was in my front garden looking very unsightly.
On a whim, I stuck the stump in a (very) large pot in the back garden with the thought that if it was infested I could just move it. It is. As I'm not hugely invested in the plant now, I'll remove the leaves and if it survives, it survives. I don't know of anyone with a fig who doesn't have this problem here in the south east.

 

The trouble is, I don't want to spray again later in the year. It would probably work but I don't want to kill whatever else is going about its business in the vicinity.

 

Me.
For now anyway.

 

I'm on the edge of London, Kent border... not far, I guess.

 

Out squishing and trouserwiping again this morning