whats destroying leaves of swiss chard & beetroot?

[novicegrower]

Hi all,
I am having some success with my growing in the garden and now have 3 raised beds in production. however the down side is something is destroying the leaves of my beetroot and swiss chard, I would almost say decimating the leaves. I am still fairly new and dont know anything about pests and desease or how to prevent/treat so your help would be life saving for the veg!
the leaves are left discoloured and thin with almost a silvery/black sheen on them. I have been removing the worst of them, only for it to invade new leaves at a faster rate ( it seems anyway), everything else does not seem to be affected?

[Two_Sheds]

Sparrows, they love them. Pea leaves too.

Try erecting a cat's cradle of black cotton over them.

[rustylady]

Silvery sheen sounds to me like snails. Sparrows eat the leaves and leave nothing behind

[novicegrower]

thanks for that,but leaves are still intact, not eaten, but have these large patches of discolouration and look awful. I'm thinking more desease than pest, but what do I know?
I will try and upload a photo, but am novice at that as well! appreciate your time and help

[rustylady]

Picture would be very helpful if you can

[vixfinn]

I've had to destroy all mine as I was invaded by leaf miners, you can sometimes see a little black worm in the leaf if you hold it up to the light. They love chard and beetroot leaves. Sounds like you have the same, Starts off as a small transparent trail within the leaf and then spreads throughout. They won't affect the actual beetroot though so you could cut off the leaves and burn them then hope for the best. I have now banished the beetroot to the bottom of the garden

[novicegrower]

looks like you are right, I have seen some images now and it does look similiar.
Does the crop have to be destroyed? is there no way of saving it? If it has to go, whats the best way of getting rid of the plants, as we live in a smokefree zone and can't burn anything.I will chop the leaves off the beetroots and see what happens.Is there are preventative measure for future crops and can I still still sow more now (of swiss chard & beets)or would that be destined for the same fate? How can I be rid of this threat?

[vixfinn]

You could tie the leaves up in a carrier bag and bin them so the critters can't spread. I had to say goodbye to the chard but I have seeded another batch, I guess it will just be later than I thought. The beetroot is getting new leaves now and I'm picking off sections where I can see the miner starting. I did give it a good spray around the soil and what was left of the plant with water infused with some garlic and chilli. It seems the chard will be a problem as long as the miners are around but you could try shifting a new batch to a different place and tearing off bits and binning them if you see it start. I think I may have let it get out of control before and by the time I noticed they had spread like wildfire!

[Minerva]

I also have something destroying my beetroot leaves. They use to be green but now look yellow. Is this what leaf mines do?

[novicegrower]

thanks Vixfinn, very useful and helpful info. I will spray the beets as you suggest and bin the chard, and seed more of both and keep my fingers crossed! good luck in your endeavours and thanks again.

[novicegrower]

Hi Minnerva, mine looked much worse than this, but the damage does seem to be similiar, with the discolouration. Perhaps cutting the leaves off the beets is worth a try anyway, just in case?

[vixfinn]

Happy to be of help Novicegrower I'm only just getting the hang of this gardening lark myself! Minerva, it wouldn't hurt to take off and bin any yellowing leaves just incase, they're useless to the plant anyhow but hopefully you don't have leaf miner. If you look closely at a young leaf and you can see a silvery trail going through or a transparent patch, possibly with a little black worm within the actual leaf then yes it's a miner.

[Minerva]

Thanks Vixfinn and Novicegrower. I'll remove the leaves right away.

[novicegrower]

thanks for your help! the beetroot is growing ok without its leaves and I will be lifting them soon, to use as baby beets. I got rid of the leaves of the chard and have kept an eye on the plants every day. This has resulted in me being able to harvest some leaves and have blanched and frozen some today, so your advice was worth seeking!
I also have a problem on my peas, but am taking the affected leaves off every day and my harvest of pea pods is just beginning....
Do you know anything about spuds? I have some that I should have been eating at the end of last month, but they havent even flowered yet? They look healthy enough and I am feeding about every 10 days, but no flowers?

[rustylady]

I have some that I should have been eating at the end of last month, but they havent even flowered yet? They look healthy enough and I am feeding about every 10 days, but no flowers?

Potatoes don't always produce flowers. Have a "furtle" round the roots and see if you find any potatoes of usable size.