Leaf Miners

[Clade]

My leaf miner infestation is getting out of control. Especially the tomatoes are covered by leaf miner damage. I know I can't spray for them, but is there any other way to control the pest?

[ElizabethB]

Hi Clade,

Welcome to the Forum.

Where in Louisiana do you live? I am your neighbor in Lafayette.

Unfortunately once the leaf miners are established in the leaves there is not much you can do other than removing the leaves.

I have problems with leaf miners on my young Satsuma. If I removed all f the infested leaves my tree would be near naked.

Check this link. Scroll down a little to get to the question on leaf miners.

https://www.lsuagcenter.com/en/our_offic ... nswers.htm

Many states have very unresponsive Ag Systems. In Louisiana we are blessed with a very responsive and helpful Department of Agriculture Extension Office system. My County agent and Horticultural agent are on speed dial. They are my best friends and an amazing information resource. So is the LSU Ag Center web site.

I will skip out and return with the LSU Ag Center Home Page.

https://www.lsuagcenter.com/

Put this on your favorites and refer to it often.

BTW - please edit your profile and include your County/Parish. Many answers to questions are region specific. Even in our relatively small state we have multiple growing regions. Not just USDA growing zones but actual regions. Varieties of fruits and vegetables grown in north or central Louisianan are different from those grown in south Louisiana.

Do check out the LSU site and give your county Agent a call.

Good luck.

[Clade]

Thanks Elizabeth. I bookmarked that page, it's very helpful. I actually already have the agcenter's planting guide bookmarked, and I refer to it often.

Will the miner damage kill the large leaves on my eggplants or is it mostly cosmetic?

[rainbowgardener]

Where I am, leaf miners are usually not a serious problem, because they are killed off in winter. Where you folks are, they can become a serious infestation that will at least slow your plants down a lot. They are difficult to deal with because they are inside the layers of the leaf and protected from anything you spray on the outside. But it is not hopeless.

Their life cycle goes that the fly lays eggs inside the leaf, between the layers of tissue. The larvae hatch out and chew their way around the leaf interior, leaving the squiggle trails. Eventually they come out, drop down to the ground, pupate in the soil and then become adults and start the whole thing over.

The main thing you can do is keep removing all the squiggled leaves. If you have a lot and don't want to defoliate your plant, you can look for where the creature actually is. Usually you can see a round bump at the end of the trail. Then just cut off and destroy the part of the leaf with the bump.

It helps to mulch well around your plants. That makes it harder for the larvae to get to the soil to pupate and make the next generation.

I have found trap crops work really well for them. Velvetleaf is a yellow flowering wildflower, which is named for its very soft leaves. The leaf miners love them and ignore everything else just to eat velvetleaf. Then I just keep pulling the squiggled leaves off of that. Columbine and lambsquarters are also reputed to work as trap crops for it.

[Francis Barnswallow]

I used to have problems with leaf miners as well. Just have to look at the leaves nearly everyday. If you let them get out of control they can be an issue.

At the first sign of leaf miners, if you look closely you'll see them. They're tiny bright orange colored and can be seen through the leaf...just follow their path on the leaf and it usually leads to the pest itself. If the infestation isn't too bad I crush them with my finger nail.

I noticed that they (just like armyworms) come in waves. They'll hit hard at first and if you catch them, you should be fine for a few weeks.

[imafan26]

Most of the damage they do is cosmetic. You can pinch the bulge at the end of the trail to kill the larvae. You would have to use an insect net with a good seal at the base to try to keep them off the plants.