Leaf miners. How to kill 'em all?

[CrazyConure]

Honestly, I don't mind some leaf miner damage to my tomato and pepper leaves...because I don't eat them anyways. BUT! They are also on my basil and herb leaves! Leaf miners are tiny little bugs that eat from the inside of the plant. I don't feel comfortable eating bugs from the inside of my basil.

Will this, combined with bt and neem oil kill them and prevent them from going inside any other plants? https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00192AO90/ref=cm_cr_arp_mb_bdcrb_top?ie=UTF8

What are some preventive measures I can take to get rid of these leaf miners?

 

[Chuck]

Once they are inside of the leaf there is nothing you can do. The only thing you can do is to keep you plants sprayed with neem. Little black flies will lay eggs, those eggs hatch and little tiny worm like things will bore into the plants leaves. Neem will take care of this but you have to keep spraying every week. If it weren't edible plants you have you could use a systemic pesticide but since your plants are edible this is not an option. Just pick off the affected leaves and destroy them. There will not be that many leaves affected.

 

[CrazyConure]

Once they are inside of the leaf there is nothing you can do. The only thing you can do is to keep you plants sprayed with neem. Little black flies will lay eggs, those eggs hatch and little tiny worm like things will bore into the plants leaves. Neem will take care of this but you have to keep spraying every week. If it weren't edible plants you have you could use a systemic pesticide but since your plants are edible this is not an option. Just pick off the affected leaves and destroy them. There will not be that many leaves affected.

Will do! What's the best way to destroy them? I would step, and crush the leaves with my foot, but it stains the brick flooring.

 

[Chuck]

Will do! What's the best way to destroy them? I would step, and crush the leaves with my foot, but it stains the brick flooring.

Throw them in the garbage

 

[CrazyConure]

Oh. Ok.

I just applied my pesticide of neem oil, bt, and some organic insect killer made by safer. I also removed all the affected leaves and threw them out. I'm hoping that cures it. I'll let you guys know if anything happens.

 

[Beth_B]

If it is any comfort, you are already eating bug parts and rodent hairs (and maybe worse) every day. Anything made from flour, fruits, vegetables, spices etc contains "contaminants: that the FDA terms GRAS (generally regarded as safe.) And the FDA has set a limit on the acceptable amounts of bug parts, rodent hair and droppings, in everything from anything made with flour to canned soup to McDonald's hamburgers to peanut butter and jelly to Snickers bars to orange juice. We eat it every day, whether our food is carefully foraged or organic, or bought commercially.

It's all natural though.

 

[Chuck]

Oh. Ok.

I just applied my pesticide of neem oil, bt, and some organic insect killer made by safer. I also removed all the affected leaves and threw them out. I'm hoping that cures it. I'll let you guys know if anything happens.

Leaf miner flies can occur at any time of the year, but mostly in the spring. If they are that bothersome to you, you must spray every 9 - 12 days. But really, they aren't that much of a problem

 

[CrazyConure]

If it is any comfort, you are already eating bug parts and rodent hairs (and maybe worse) every day. Anything made from flour, fruits, vegetables, spices etc contains "contaminants: that the FDA terms GRAS (generally regarded as safe.) And the FDA has set a limit on the acceptable amounts of bug parts, rodent hair and droppings, in everything from anything made with flour to canned soup to McDonald's hamburgers to peanut butter and jelly to Snickers bars to orange juice. We eat it every day, whether our food is carefully foraged or organic, or bought commercially.

It's all natural though.

I feel sick to my stomach.

 

[MaryMary]

If it is any comfort, you are already eating bug parts and rodent hairs (and maybe worse) every day.

I feel sick to my stomach.

I'm guessing you are not comforted.


Do you want to know how they make Jello?

Spoiler

Are you sure??

http://www.snopes.com/food/ingredient/jello.asp

 

[Beth_B]

I feel sick to my stomach.

Sorry. It's true though!
When I was a kid we often foraged...wild blackberries, greens etc. Bugs and such were just an integral part of those wild plants and getting them 100% "sanitized" was almost not feasible.

Then I picked commercially grown fruit and berries for a couple of summers. All the "clean" and good looking stuff went for sale in pretty containers. The buggy, wormy, slightly mooshy, etc fruit? Off to be turned into jam, pie filling and the like.

And don't get me started on what happens (or is done to) the grain that gets stored in silos, or animals in meat processing plants...anyway I guess what I want to get across is whether it's naturally harvested or commercially harvested, none of us are eating 100 percent sterile food. And that is ok and perfectly natural!
Just try not to think about it too hard.