Leaves showing silvery trails caused by burrowing larvae of leaf miner flies

Leaf miner fly

BBC Gardeners' World Magazine

Published: Friday, 15 March 2019 at 3:00 pm

Learn about leaf miner fly and how to manage it in our expert giude

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The winding trails on leaves are caused by the larvae of a small, dark fly. During summer, the females make little nicks in the leaf surface to lay their eggs. A week later, these hatch into larvae, which tunnel along just under the leaf surface to feed. After 2-3 weeks, the larvae pupate inside the leaves and emerge as adults. The damage is mostly cosmetic but where many leaves are affected, the plant may be weakened or die. Different species of leaf miner fly affect specific plants.

Symptoms

A maze of beige or silvery trails appear and spread just below the upper surfaces of leaves.

Find it on

Many shrubs, perennials, vegetables, fruit trees and bushes

Organic

Pinch off infected leaves as soon as the first 'wiggling' trails are seen and dispose of them in the bin or burn them immediately.

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