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Leaf Miners


Fellow gardeners,
(See the end of the paragraph for the short version of the question)
I have had one hell of a bad summer with the protracted heat and
humidity.  When one of my plants croak from the heat, I just have to
promise to mulch the roots better and pick a more heat tolerant
perennial. But this warm damp year has brought the bugs out by the
bushel. I normally hate to use chemicals for a host of reasons, but
particularly because I am sure they affect the earthworms. And my heavy
clay needs all the earthworms it can get. First I had a beetle eating
the petals off my Shasta Daisies (Latin name?). I got the upper hand on
them by spraying the blooms on a daily basis. I'm sure I killed some
pollinators too. Aphids do their thing every summer and I can spray
lightly on undersides of leaves for them every couple of weeks. The
yellow ivy mites are pernicious because they are so hard to see, but
they succumb to the aphid treatment anyway.  I  watch for army worm
spoor and treat them with B.T. spore. So far so good. 
But all this season I have been following the progress of a previously
unseen pest. I took a leaf with a visible pest track to an extension
agent. "Leaf Miners" he said. (I brought him one with the bug still in
it). He didn't know what would kill them, they seem to be new in South
Central Kansas. Systemics like diazinon have had no effect in the
heavily affected beds. They seem to operate only in the coolest part of
the day, I was lucky to catch the one that I did. I did a web search and
found there were too many different kinds to know where to start. They
affect my Shasta Daisies, Zinnias, Aquilegia, Chinese Lantern,
Sunflowers, petunias, ...and more..

HELP

What do you do for Leaf Miners?

Tim Chavez
z6 Wichita, KS

We are finally down to the 90-95 F daily temps which are tolerable after
the 95-100 range. My plants are still dying faster than I care to admit.



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