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Re: Leaf Miners

At 03:01 PM 8/10/98 -0500, you wrote:
>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.

Grow plants that attract beneficial wasps.  The wasps will take care of the
leaf miners.  But if you're going to spray pesticides on everything, you'll
kill off the beneficial wasps, too.  You probably kill beneficial mites,
and they take longer to regain their numbers than the malevolent mites.
Give the mites and aphids blasts of water.  You'll be further ahead.  

What attracts beneficial wasps?  Flowers of umbelliferous plants, such as
fennel, dill, yarrow, Queen Anne's Lace, etc.  Anise hyssop is good too.
Margaret
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