Leaf miners are the larvae of various beetles, flies, moths and sawflies. They lay their eggs between the soft upper lower surfaces of leaves. Leaf miners can bring about destruction of your garden by destroying the crops and plants of your beautiful garden. If you find wavy lines on leaf then it indicates that the plant is suffering from infestation of leaf miners.
There are more than 200 species of leaf miners. They are named depending on which plant they feed. Based on the area, these leaf miners are characterized in to four generations. Out of this, the first generation destroys the plant the most. During spring, plants fold themselves and leaf miners lay their eggs in it at that time. This period is good for the growth of larval as the tissue of the leaf is soft.
Leaf miners spend most of their lives laying eggs. They are named leaf miners as they always tunnel through plants.
Ways to get rid of leaf miners
It is almost impossible to get rid of leaf miners. Insecticides won’t work alone. You will have to make use of some other ways to get rid of it. Here are some of the ways but you might need to take help of some expert as the chemical terms might be difficult for you to understand.
If your plant is small i.e. young then make use of large amount of pesticide which contains imidacloprid and spray it in the area infested by these worms. But if the plant already has false teeth then this solution is useless.- If your plant is a grown up one than make use of pesticide containing dimethoate. But read the instructions given on the bottle.
- Grow other plants near your affected plant as companion plants cal help to reduce the population of leaf miners. Some of the other plants that you can grow around the affected plants are lambsquarter, velvetleaf and columbine.
- Pheromones can also help you in this regard as they can even seduce leaf miners. There are pheromone traps that are specially made for leaf miners. Make use of it. But do read the instruction given at the back of the bottle to avoid any further consequences.
- You can also make use of some biological creatures like lady bugs to attack these leaf miners. But remember that not all biological bugs are useful in this regard.
- You can also remove the affected plants from your garden to stop further infestation.
- Make use of BioNeem to eliminate leaf miners. Not only leaf miners but BioNeem can also be used to kill other pests. It is a multipurpose insecticide. BioNeem disturbs the hormonal balance of insects which leads to their death even before thy move to other generation. It also repels leaf miners from the fogged areas.
Thus it is important to control the population of leaf miners before the situation gets worse. Make use of the above method sand you will succeed in getting rid of leaf miners.
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