I want to cry - leaf miner!

:( leaf miners are eating my precious herbs :( done my research, it's 99% it. pics to follow. is destroying everything the only option? my heart hurts! :(

 

I've just had a look on the web Peorthine and Neem oil apparently has a good effect on controlling them.

 

No it's not the only option Peorthine.....i'm sure there is a homemade remedy you can make to spray on the plants.....something to do with puree'd garlic and soapy water....i'll try and find the recipe

 

dont worry its not the end of the world we used to have an awful lot of 'mined' leaves around the garden too especially on our lovely honeysuckle we just got into the habit of picking off the mined leaves regularly and nowadays we rarely see any anymore...i think we've gone & wiped out the whole population

 

my mint and oregano:

 

I will cut off all the infected leaves today. killed 3 adult ones yesterday. thanks for replies guys, I will check neem oil out and look for a soap recipe, what makes it more complicated it's the fact that they are herbs I was going to eat :(

 

Never come across leaf miner this time of the year.
If it is, then just either pull off the affected leaves or usually you can see the miner if you look closely at the leaf underside, just squash it.

If you are cooking the herbs, I doubt you will notice them.

 

Is that leaf miner damage?

To my inexpert eye, I'm wondering if it is a nutrient deficiency.

I'm very likely to be wrong on that though.

 

pete, so can I just cook them and eat them? I guess it's a bit of protein addition to my salad lol

I presume it is leaf miner, as I saw and killed few adult flies, and you can see tiny black dots within white trails which are their droppings. what deficiencies could it be resulting in white spots like this? would the flies I killed be something else then?

 

Must admit to being slightly sceptical about it being leaf miner.
I have seen similar leaf damage, but never taken much notice as it rarely has become a big problem.
Usually with leaf miner you can actually see the insect inside the leaf, if you look on the underside, the tunnels also get wider as the insect grows.

If the flies you killed were tiny and black, they were very likely fungus gnats, these live on the compost in the pot mainly, especially if its kept very moist.

I'd discard any badly affected leaves, but wouldn't be that worried about eating those with only slight damage.

I 'm also sceptical that its a deficiency.
I think its likely to be insect damage, but not sure what.

 

Have a look at Thrips, might be an idea.

 

oh dear, im now pretty sure it's trips! thank you!