[swaine]

The yield on my beetroot has been poor this year. Poor germination, stuttering growth and small beetroots at the end. I guess that part of it is down to the weather we've all had.

I've also had a lot of leaf damage on the beetroot plants this year. About a third of each leaf goes pale brown and dry, and holes appear in the withered part of the leaf. The rest of the leaf seems OK. There don't seem to be any bugs on the leaves.

I've had a similar problem in the past, but nothing like as bad as this year.

Can anyone tell me whats causing this leaf damage, and ways to avoid it in the future?

[sunshineband]

The tough roots are probably due to lack of water

From the description you give, the leaves might have been attacked by beet leaf miner, which eventually cause enough damage for the leaves to go brown and die.

[swaine]

Thanks for the reply sunshineband.

I've googled beet leaf miner and the photos show exactly what I've got.

Google also showed a previous topic on this forum on beet leaf miner which I hadn't found previously. I now know what is also eating the pak choi nearby, and what probably ate the leaves of some radish last month!

apparently my best bet is to turn the ground over and let the birds eat the grubs. Lets hope this works.

[Salmo]

Beet leaf miner is specific to beet/chard/perpetual spinach and will not live on pal choi or radish. If there are holes in those or other brassicas my guess would be flea beetle. They make small holes but as the leaves grow the holes get bigger.