Grow Your Own Magazine

I have some perpetual spinach in a pot & it's being eaten by worms which are alive & well & living INSIDE the leaves! Can anyone shed any light on these little critters & how can I get rid of them?

Thanx Saffer

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Good food ends with good talk - G.Neighor 1993

If they're inside the leaves, they'll most likely be a leaf miner.

It's not worms. (earthworms only eat soil, not plants)

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~ What do I think of Western civilisation? I think it would be a very good idea ~ Gandhi

Thanx very much - how do get rid of these little miners (not worms - oops!)?

__________________
Good food ends with good talk - G.Neighor 1993

Yep, my hunch was right. I just googled this: CCE - Suffolk County: Spinach Leafminer
"The spinach leafminer attacks spinach, beet, sugar beet, Swiss chard and many weeds including lamb's-quarters, chickweed and nightshade.

The maggots feed between the upper and lower leaf surfaces of the host plants mining out the tissue in between.

Because this insect overwinters as a pupa in the soil near where the crop was infested the previous year, crop rotation should be practiced. Also cover plants with fine netting/cheesecloth/floating fleece to protect them from adult egg-laying flies.

Remove infested leaves before the larvae drop to the soil. Do not compost the leaves:larvae might continue to develop and emerge as adults to reinfest crops.

Control weeds. Destroying the insects' wild food plants should also be helpful in reducing the numbers of leafminers. This includes lamb's-quarters, chickweed and nightshade in and around the garden."

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~ What do I think of Western civilisation? I think it would be a very good idea ~ Gandhi

The spinach is in a pot with new compost - they must have overwintered nearby. Will do as you say - many thanx for the useful info!

__________________
Good food ends with good talk - G.Neighor 1993

It's more likely that the mummy fly laid her eggs in your pot then.

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~ What do I think of Western civilisation? I think it would be a very good idea ~ Gandhi

The little tinker - without my permission!!!!

__________________
Good food ends with good talk - G.Neighor 1993

They are extremely irritating pests, leaf beet miners. I encourage you to check the leaves daily - look for tiny clumps of white eggs and just wipe them off the leaf with your fingers.

If you miss any and they start burrowing, tear the affected section of the leaf out, you need not take the whole leaf.

If have found no way of control other than covering with fleece - which is far too hot in the summer, so I have taken to checking the leaves regularly instead.

Thanx very much CC, that's exactly what I did, tore out the damaged bits & have put them in a covered tin can for burning later. Theses little critters are a real pain but I will look for the eggs & perhaps sterilize any pots I want to use next year.

__________________
Good food ends with good talk - G.Neighor 1993