Pesky Leaf Miners in my Spinach

I was asked what is a Leaf Miner.  I'm no expert on the topic, bug, or control. All I know is that there is a little fly that resembles a house fly that lays tiny white eggs on the underneath sides of leaves, and when the eggs hatch, the larva starts munching away on the underneath side of the leave, taking all the juicy nutrients out.  On the top side of the leaf, it looks like a whitish lesion or strip has been damaged.  In a day or two, the leaf curls and shivels around the damage. At first, I thought it was sun damage. 

I routinely (daily) check the leaves for the tiny white eggs.  I scrape off the eggs with my fingernail and flick them out into the grass.  I have read that it is not a good idea to pull the leaves and put them into compost, as this becomes a perfect area for them to breed and grow within the breakdown.  I don't know for certain, that's just what I read. I put damaged leaves into my burn pile or garbage. There are probably better treatments to stop the flies from laying eggs.  I just try to stay organic, and in my micro garden patch, it is not that difficult to check the leaves every day or every other day. 

Leaf Miner Larva Damage	Leaf Miner Eggs are White and in rows
Close up of Eggs	Close up of damage
Leaf Miner Fly *

*Resource - "https://www.daylilies.org/ahs_dictionary/leafminer.html"

One Month into Fall 2018

Here we are, one month into the fall season, and the weather is polar opposite of this time last year. We have sunshine, albeit breezy, and temps in the 70s during the day. This year, my fall garden is so much better than last year.  Some things I learned is to have most of the fall veggies in pots/buckets in order to be able to move them quickly into the green house, in the event the over night temps drop into the low 30s.  Otherwise, I leave them outside over night, for any rain or dew.  One thing to watch for closely are bugs that want to lay eggs in the soil.  One way to cut down on this is to sprinkle DE (diatomacious earth) that is "food safe" around the plants onto the soil.  This will kill and/or detract most bugs. Also, watch for leaf miners that lay little white eggs on the under side of the leaves. The culprit looks like a house fly. But, the eggs, as they hatch will take all the nourishment from the leaf, causing it to look like a slug crawled over it.

So far, the bell peppers (in the green house 24-7) are still producing cute little peppers. The strawberry starts all took and are looking great, as the older berry leaves are turning red and brown. The oregano has slowed its growth, but we can still harvest any that we want.

Fall plants, carrots, spinach, garlic and cilantro are knocking it out of the park this year. Could not ask for a better bunch of plants. I have planted a second fall start (fingers crossed) of spinach and lettuce.

30 carrots in a container	Topdown carrots
Fall Cilantro	Fall Leaf Lettuce
Fall Strawberry Starts	Fall Spinach
Leftover Bell Peppers	More Bell Peppers

Three of the four Welsummers are in full moult, while one continues to persist laying an egg every other day. She seems quite proud of herself.  The Rhode Island Reds are continuing to lay three eggs per day for us, so we are plenty in the eggs this fall. Considering that there are only about 11 hours of daylight per day, and we have yet to put any wattage into their coop yet, I am in no hurry to take the electricity out there, just yet, while they continue to lay an egg per day. 

The Freedom Rangers are 10 weeks of age, and we will process them next weekend. They are good sized.  I speculate that they will each weigh about 5 - 6 pounds processed. There are three cockerels and three pullets.  The cockerels are crowing every morning and every evening... they seem most intrigued by the hens in the other coop, since the pullets are not mature enough for mating purposes. 

All six Freedom Rangers	Two Pulls and Two Rels
Pullets Leaning into the Breeze	Good Size!
Back to the feed trough