Allium Leaf Miner - Compost ?

Hi,

Grew a grand crop of Leeks this year but found that every one was infected with these Leaf Miner bugs that ruin the crop.

Seems that the pupae can remain viable in the soil for a year so cannot plant the crop in that space for some time.

Wondered about putting the infected Leeks with all these bugs still in them into our cold ( plastic bin ) composters. Could they still pupae and emerge next spring ?

Would it be safer to put them in the councils green waste?

 

I think that could be safer @ricky101 . I get leaf miner on my sweet peas, and I do compost the plants [also cold bins] and haven't noticed a problem, but it might be better to be on the safe side if you're growing edibles in a bed/border.

 

I certainly wouldn't cold compost the plants. I've found the only way to grow leeks on my plot is to net them with insect netting. They have 2 major cycles per year, one in March/April and one in late summer/ early autumn which tends to do most of the damage. In the past, before netting, I've picked clean leeks in September only to find by October they're full of larvae and ruined. There's good info on the RHS page.

 

The council green waste it is then.

Think Leeks and Onions ( white rot last year) will be off the gardening menu for a few years, only a small garden and not enough space to properly rotate the crops.

Time for a change and try some new and different crops.

 

@ricky101 , yes, probably wise to avoid alliums for a while. I'm lucky that I've not had white rot on our plot and the onions generally aren't affected by allium miner because they grow outside of the main active times, but if I want to grow leeks then they need netting.

 

In a small space, plants [of any kind] have to earn their keep @ricky101 , so it's better to have something that will suit your site and conditions.