aaargh ... leaf minor on cabbages?

So, just looked at my cabbages and they have white, scrawly marks on the leaves .... grabbed my Greenhouse Expert book and it suggests leaf minor!!! It wasn't there yesterday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It says to 'pick and destroy leaves' ... but this is on chrysanthemums .... is it the same rule for cabbage???

Boo hoo!!

Winnie

 

Hi Winnie

There are various types of leaf miner and they attack different plants. Other pests, like the mangold fly, have larvae that cause similar leaf damage to certain vegetables but not usually cabbage. That said, maybe a few leaf miners couldn't find their usual host plants and so they used your cabbages as emergency rations?!

What you do about them depends on the extent of the damage, relative to the size of the plant.

If you think your cabbages can survive losing a few leaves, I'd trim them off cleanly now.

If the plants are still too small to lose any leaves, I'd keep a close eye on the damage and only take them off if the damage gets worse.