Another pesky pest, this beet leaf miner was found on the beetroot at the Community Garden a couple of weeks ago.
This is one occasion where vigilance really is the only cure as there are no home made remedies (or no approved insecticides) that will work on these little maggots.
Yes .... maggots. These little white grubs will turn into the pupae of flies. They wriggle about (or mine, as their name suggests) between the internal tissues of the leaves and if left unchecked may have two life cycles in one summer.
They are attracted to beetroot, spinach and Swiss chard so crops will be ruined once infected (yuk, who wants to eat maggots with their dinner?).If you spot the Beet Leaf Miner early on you can remove the leaves of the infected plants and destroy them. If not I'm afraid your crop will be ruined.
This is often a serious issue in our gardens as well, although this summer for the first time in years leaf miners have not been to much of a problem. Our chickens miss them.:)
ReplyDeleteWhat a great use for them! I can imagine the chickens would love the treat and would be a personally more rewarding than putting the whole crop on the compost heap.
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