[rivkele]

Hi all,

my swiss chard's leaves were wilting and turning white in patches. It took me ages to find the culrit but i've finally discovered it's being done by nasty little caterpilar/grub things inside the leaves.
Can anyone tell me what these things are called, who lays them and what i can do about it, apart from breaking apart each infected leaf and squishing them individually.

thanks
rebecca:-)

[mumofstig]

They are leaf miners. squeeze the leaves finger on top and thumb underneath to squash them. The new leaves should grow through ok

[rivkele]

thanks mumofstig, i'm off on a squishing spree. (amazing how much less squeemish i'm getting about these things since i started this gardening lark:-)
I've read up a bit about them and i'll be looking for their little white eggs to squish too.

rebecca