Bent Leeks

Hello,

On picking my leeks I noticed that they are all squashed flat with the inner leaves bursting out.  Is this purely weather damage (it has been windy here) or is there an underlying issue?

Many thanks

Hitman

Any sign of thrips,leek moth? Might have got damaged when weeding then inners have grown out maybe

Looks a bit like allium leaf miner damage to me. Are there any tiny brown pupae in the stems?

Looks like quite a number of my leeks which are riddled with leaf miner grubs!😟

Thanks for your comments.

I have seen small brown grubs so could this be allium leaf miner?  The leeks seem to have scummed to this quite quickly so what causes this and how can I get rid of it?  I haven't experienced this issue before with leeks albeit in a different raised bed.

Thank you

Yes, it definitely looks like the leek moth.
Two years ago I planted my leeks in the spring and they were jolly strong and healthy looking by the autumn.
I did the same thing last year and put in some later ones as well. The earlier ones were almost all struck by the blight.
This year I planted my leeks later but keep them covered with fleece until the moth breeding season was over (there are two seasons). A fellow gardener put in some leeks at the same time (uncovered) and they seemed to be doing a lot better than mine. However, I looked yesterday and hers have the dreaded lurgy and mine seem unscathed (touch wood).  About 30 years ago (but the moth problem started) I used to soak the leak in tobacco juice for a day or two prior to planting (I read somewhere that this helps to prevent pests but I have never been able to find the article again -).  Good luck next year.

Anton

I didn't know it was illegal. Since when and why? I used to smoke like a trooper at the time so I probably would have been impervious to reason.

Anton

It's the default situation in the EU - if a substance has not been specifically tested and approved for use as a pesticide it's illegal to use it as such.

Simple home-made pesticides are never going to be tested because there is obviously no profit in it - other products have either not been submitted or have been withdrawn presumably because the manufacturers don't believe there is enough potential profit in it.

Some of course wouldn't pass the tests because they are simply too dangerous, particularly in the hands of amateur users - liquid nicotine would probably fail on more than one count, particularly if it was made by soaking old fag ends! 

Edit: oops too slow - never mind (at least we agree!  )