How To Get Rid Of Leaf Miner Pest

This ultimate guide on leaf miner pest will help to identify and control leaf miner pest. Get to know symptoms and control of this pest. However leaf miners are not very serious pest but if not controlled then it can cause serious damage.

Many of my gardeners friend shared their queries regarding this pest. Whether it is tomato, or brinjal, this pest can attack them. In this article I am going to share symptoms and control methods to save your plants.

Introduction

Leaf miners pest can attack plant during their larval stage. They love eating plant tissues. Leaf miners can be larvae of saw flies, moths, flies, beetles, etc. Whether you are a farmer or a gardener this pest can really disturb your plant.

They can attack on chrysanthemums, potato, tomato, gerbera, celery, brinjal, gourds, etc. It can attack wide range of horticulture crops. According to sciencedirect.com, they can feed on more than 25 plant families.

They punctures the surface of the leaves and starts feeding them from inside. However they can be of any insect species that’s why the control measures is not specific. Therefore the identification of the infestation is easy but knowing about actual pest species becomes difficult.

But don’t worry. We are not going to write a research article on leaf miners. Our main goal is to control them and for this we need to identify pest from their symptoms.

Symptoms Of Leaf Miners

There are many insect species that can attack on your plant as leaf miners pest. But the symptoms are nearly similar. You can easily notice yellowish to whitish irregular curly lines on the leaf surfaces. If you notice such sign then it means larvae is feeding on your plants.

Either you are a farmer or a gardener, you need to check your plants regularly. I keep checking my plants once after every 7 days. This practice helps me to identify and control them well in time. Once you have identified them, the next step is to get rid of leaf miners.

How To Get Rid Of Leaf Miner?

There are various methods by which you can control this pest. Let’s start learning each one of them step by step.

Physical Methods

Leaf Miners are larvae of flying insects. So if we can control any flying insect pest then we can save our plants from leaf miners. For this we can use yellow or bluish sticky traps. These sticky traps attracts flying pest towards them.

Hence trapped pest will not be able to lay eggs in the soil. Thus it can help in preventing not only leaf miners but also other hazardous plant pest. You can easily purchase sticky traps from online stores.

But if your leaves is already infested with this pest then remove those leaves. Burn them at a far distance. This will help to kill the pest larvae and stop the further spread.

Bio-Control

If you are a farmer and your is getting affected from leaf miners, then you can try this method. You can introduce beneficial bugs in the field that can kill leaf miners naturally. This is the most effective method to control leaf miners.

You can introduce wasps called Diglyphus isaea. They are available in online stores as well as in farmers market. But remember, if you are using this method then you should use any kind of pesticide. Pesticide application can kill these beneficial wasps too.

Organic Methods

Spraying neem oil mix periodically is one of the best organic method to control leaf miner pest. You can also use neemastra for this purpose. Spraying on foliar parts especially leaves can help to kill pest larvae. Spray during early mornings or evenings for best results.

Do not forget to perform patch test on leaves before applying on a large. Application of concentrated neem oil without dilution can cause damage to your plants.