Green bean leaf pest

[yardling]

My green bean leaves are starting to get some spotting and "trails" in them - can someone tell me what this could be (and also hopefully how to treat the leaves)? It's the large leaf at the top left in this photo, hopefully it's clear enough.

Along the same lines, I would love tips on how to catch pests in the act. Something is eating my spinach leaves (plants are only about 4 weeks old so there's not much to the leaf yet as it is!) and I've tried checking them at various times of day but still can't see what it might be.

Thanks in advance for any assistance!

GreenBean Leaves.jpg (65.3 KiB) Viewed 778 times

[imafan26]

The trails are leaf miners they are fly larva. Mostly the damage is cosmetic. You can squish the larva at the end of the trail before they fly off.

Disappearing tender growth is usually the work of slugs and snails. They will be most active early in the morning before the dew dries up or just after sunset. You have to go out with a flashlight or get up early to hunt them. Slug bait works but you have to keep applying it every two weeks. In the daytime they will hide in pots, under leaves and in dark moist places. You can wet down a rough wide board like a redwood plank and put it in the area preferably in the shade with one end on the ground and the other propped up on a brick. Check under the board in the morning and you may find the culprits hiding there. Move the board around until you find a spot that has a lot of snails. Beer bait also works but you need to clean that out and also shield it from rain.

[yardling]

Thanks so much on both fronts, these are my two favorite veggies. I'll be up early tomorrow a.m. with a flashlight!

[imafan26]

I prefer early morning hunts. I tried going out at night but even with a flashlight I can't even see the ground and I don't find enough with just a few minutes with a flashlight. Early in the morning just about sunrise there is enough light that I don't need the flashlight and the snails are easier to spot. look everywhere they can climb on the house or a pole they climb on my shade house screen on my fence and especially like moist dark places like under my ferns and between the pots and even under my bench master. I take the potted plants out of their pots (they have been there awhile so they don't fall apart) and I check the roots because the snails and slugs like to eat plant roots.

Some people are surprised when they go out in the evening on the north side of the house and find their whole sidewalk covered with them especially if the sidewalk is wet.

When the snails get on the nursery bench I have to take every pot apart and check on the sides of the pots and trays. The snails were getting on the bench by climbing up on the overhanging lemon and ginger leaves and on the weeds below. I found one attached to the bottom of the benchmaster and I can usually find slugs and snails hiding in my bigger pots either at the bottom of the pot or just under the fallen debris in the pot.