Attack of the Leaf Miners
This summer the lovely Ileana of A Candy-Colored Life sent me a packet of ‘Erbette’ chard seed as part of the Punk Rock Garden Swap. ‘Erbette’ has slender, pale green stems and delicate leaves that remind me more of spinach than Swiss chard. It is an elegant and sophisticated vegetable, just like its name suggests.
Which is why I was devastated to discover that an army of leaf miners decided they like ‘Erbette’ as much as I do. Leaf miners are the larvae of a tiny black fly. They wiggle their way in between the upper and lower leaf surfaces of chard (and other leafy greens), mine out a pocket, and leave ugly blisters all over the leaves.
They are totally gross and I have decided to wage war.
My garden is 100% organic, so I definitely wasn’t about to break out a spray to annihilate these icky pests. I did a little research and found out that the best way to deal with leaf miners is to cut out infested leaves as soon as you notice damage and dispose of them.
I’ve been vigilantly removing infested leaves and so far, so good! The number of leaves affected is diminishing quickly. Next year, I think that I’ll put a row cover over my chard (and spinach) in early summer when the leaf miner flies are out and about laying eggs. The row cover (which is an agricultural fabric that lets light and water in but keeps bugs out) will protect my pretty plants without using a drop of chemicals. Won’t that be nice?
I’ve had some issues with these pests also, on beets and spinach. I pick then out as I see them and I think that does a decent job.
September 13th, 2008 at 8:38 amI am so sad for you and the leaf miners. When I see their bodies convulsing in the leaves I want to puke. I actively despise them. I stopped growing spinach because no matter where I planted them, crop rotation, and even taking years off, I would seem to have a problem and I am just too grossed out by them to try again. Sad because I love fresh spinach. They also liked my beets this year but I picked them out like you suggested and that was ok, but I don’t eat beet greens. Still, they are the grossest veggie pest out there, bar none.
September 17th, 2008 at 5:51 pm