help do i have leaf miners?

This is spreading on my 3 week old babies...What should i do?

yes, those are leaf miners. generally they do not get bad enough to harm the plant, but i always take get rid of them. spinosad works great on them. i use Jack's Dead Bug i find at Home Depot for about $9. you can also crush the insect with finger nails. it's tough to get because they live between the upper and lower leaf surfaces. GL

Those white and yellow trails started showing up yesterday and i at first thought fungus, because they didnt resemble any type of nute defisciency i could find on the web. They are spreading should i cut the affected leaves? Also i have already killed 4 over the 3 week plants life cycle...im gonna go grab some of that Spinosad

remove effected leaf. dispose of leaf. bye miner

Done deal...thanks folks

Look for the entry and exit points. If they have exited then there's no use treating the plant. Wouldn't you say Po boy? Do they lay eggs in-between leaf surfaces? I know the trails are called galleries. Sometimes you can just stick something pointy in the leaf and pry it out. Leaf miners are some interesting insects. Not really destructive. Not like spider mites.

Well it started on what i believe you would call the 'true leaves' and destroyed them pretty fast, i panicked and with sterile scissors, snipped off the affected leaves because i feared it was spreading fungus..this is the end result after cutting the badly affected area will she be ok?

dannyboy602 said:

Look for the entry and exit points. If they have exited then there's no use treating the plant. Wouldn't you say Po boy? Do they lay eggs in-between leaf surfaces? I know the trails are called galleries. Sometimes you can just stick something pointy in the leaf and pry it out. Leaf miners are some interesting insects. Not really destructive. Not like spider mites.

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agree. get rid of the disposed leaves, the insect is still inside. i grind the leaves in the garbage disposal.

Leaves disposed of...

Po boy said:

agree. get rid of the disposed leaves, the insect is still inside. i grind the leaves in the garbage disposal.

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that may not kill them or their eggs , And many bugs can live within the DWV, or even septic systems (no clue about leaf miners)

I seal infected material in plastic bags , and transport far away, and BURN , I would hate to infect someone else who inturn infects me back

Sort of a germaphobe so i would have NEVER even brought those sick looking leaves into my house lol...i sealed them in a ziploc which was in turn placed into a trash bag then finally into my dumpster. i vigorously washed hands and scissors and they are looking happy again, but 3 out of 10 seedlings growth has stunted. They are 17 days old and only 2 1/4" tall where 3 of my largest are well over 4" maybe even 5. I Have them in 5 gallon buckets mixture of plenty of perlite, organic humus, and MG soil veg and garden. I know people dont like MG but my aunt gave me a ton and told me they gave her the best peppers and tomato harvest shes ever had. The soil has a 3 month supply at 9.5.7. I also have MG water soluble fert 18.21.21 which i deluted about a quarter strength and fed to one of the runts....that was 3 days ago and i still have yet to see any growth...am i just being a typical impatient noob or do i have reason to worry? Heres a pic of one of my largest and one of the small ones

Soil looks a bit coarse IMO.a lot of material for those little roots to get through!

Thats actually just the surface, i read the decomposed wood chips are good. The actual soil is pretty fine, loose, and fluffy when dry with alot of perlite

Sounds like a good soil mix. Don't listen to MG haters. I've used it and I like it. Trust me and your Aunt not RIU Newbies. The only thing is it can be hot for a new seedling but if you havent seen burnt leaves by now you may not see them at all. That your 17 day old seedling isn't growing very quickly doesn't worry me and it shouldn't worry you. Trust me, it's growing in the pot and that's all I'm concerned with.
So you fertilized with diluted MG, that's good, don't think it will have an immediate effect. It takes two weeks for the plant to respond to many things.
The little mulch layer on top is fine, it keeps in moisture to an extent. And as it breaks down it will release Nitrogen into the soil in time.

Cool, VERY INFORMATIVE!! Im a first time grower who would just ALWAYS talk about it, but when my Aunt told me to take the extra soil off her hands it was a sign. Ive done tons of reading/research from top growing sites to my aunt and mother who live in their gardens lol...i at first panicked when i heard so much dissatisfaction with MG soil because when my plants formed their first true leaves they became my babies!! And i didnt want to give up on them..7 are coming along good but 3 are looking so small and puney...guess im just being impatient especially ever since a few of them started to smell pretty skunky!!