Help with Sunflowers - Brown spots on leaves?

[squirleygirl2917]

Hello. This is my first time in this forum. I have a question about my sunflowers.
This is what happened. I grew the seeds in peat cubes, then transferred them into peat pots and soil, and after they got their leaves (they are about 12inches tall now) they got brown spots on their leaves on the tips. The brown spots seem to spread through the whole leaf and then other leaves get affected. I have been trying to cut off these leaves. But then, I noticed that in these brown spots there are little yellow worm like things. I can't figure out what is wrong with my sunflowers or how to fix it Please help me, my baby sunflowers will thank you and so do I
Oh...I have sweet peas and baby cypress vines, as well as basil, sage and cilantro all growing in the same area (on my back deck) and none of these plants have been affected by the same problem even though they sit right next to my sunflowers.
Thank you in advance! any advice or help is greatly appreciated.
Jessica
FL

[The Helpful Gardener]

We sure do like neem oil here as it is innocuous and heals a multitude of sins; try that first and let us know...

hg

[squirleygirl2917]

We sure do like neem oil here as it is innocuous and heals a multitude of sins; try that first and let us know...

hg

Thank you. I will try to find some of that. It is just strange, this has never happened any other time I grew sunflowers. There are more bad spots on the leaves today, even after I cut them off yesterday.

[The Helpful Gardener]

Are there actual worms or just wormlike structures? Sound more fungal than animal...

HG

[squirleygirl2917]

Are there actual worms or just wormlike structures? Sound more fungal than animal...

HG

Hmmm... well originally I thought it was fungus also, but the "worm like" things kind of threw me. I had thought maybe they were like fungus gnat larvae or something like that because I had thought I saw fungus gnats. There were very small flies hanging around for awhile, I thought maybe they laid their eggs under the damaged part of the leaf. They appeared to be actual worms, and yellow. They are only about 3-5 mm long so they are pretty small. They are like sort of burrowed underneath a "skin" that is on the damaged part of the leaf.

Would it help if I posted pictures? Thank you for your response

[The Helpful Gardener]

Ahh...could be some type of leaf miner; not many good biologicals but nematodes would work if youapplied them really directly, with a Q-tip on a cloudy day or evening (very UV sensitive).

Sometimes fruiting bodies (sporangia) of fungus can look wormy, like fireblight somtimes does...

HG