I have seen leaf miner tracks on daylilies for a few years. Since I had leaf miner tracks on
columbine that was growing in the daylily beds, I thought the columbine leaf miner
had transferred onto daylilies. Over the years, no daylilies died, but the leaves were
unsightly.

The columbines were removed from the beds, but now I learn there is a leaf miner
specific to daylilies. Also, this past season, we saw yellow larva on one daylily located
at the base of the leaves which looks like the online photo of the daylily leaf miner.

Systemic insecticide was sprayed early in the year for thrips, but did nothing to
eradicate leaf miners.

Does anyone know if the daylily leaf miner can cause considerable damage to
the health of daylilies if or when populations increase substantially?

I get them too but so far I have not noticed any significant damage. Out of 350 daylilies I have maybe 3 or 4 that get the leaf miners.

We have them also, but they really don't do any damage other than the leaf tracks. Now if you had an infestation by large numbers they may do more harm, but not in low numbers. They usually don't stay in the leaf very long to do much harm when it's just a few.
I usually spray with the Bayer Advanced Complete Insect Killer if I see a lot of daylilies with this damage. As with all systemics they only last so long so depending on the cycle of the leafminer, when you sprayed early in the year it may not have effected them. I think most of the systemics only last up to 30 days (some may be a little longer) except for the Bayer Tree and Shrub protect and feed which lasts up to 12 months.
The problem with killing leafminers is even if you get the larvae the adult flies don't eat the plant so they wouldn't ingest any of the insecticide.


Unless it's a large number of these all over the garden I do not spray because we have lots of parasitic wasps (super tiny wasps) that attack a lot of different pests. They will lay their eggs in other pest's eggs or even in the body of bigger pest and when the eggs hatch the larvae eat or kill the other larvae or pest. I will usually just pull the foliage that has the tracks in them off all the way to the base and if the larvae is there I squash it.

Shirlee, Gaye Williams of the Maryland Department of Agriculture is tracking the spread of leafminers. She would like images and information sent to her. Her email addy is at the end of this article which begins on page 7.

http://entnemdept.ufl.edu/hodg...

Thanks guys for the input. I had read the article by Gayle Willliams, but did not take any pictures or
have any additional information to add, except that I have seen it here, at least I think that is
what it is.

I didn't see much info on the daylily leaf miner, so I searched for any on columbine leaf miners.
There is a lot of info about them. Since they overwinter as pupae in the soil, I guess a soil
drench with insecticide early in spring and another in 3-4 weeks might help, plus taking off
affected leaves early in spring as they are seen. Also looking for eggs underneath the leaves
and squishing them. I'm assuming these two types of leaf miners may be similar in habit, or
perhaps in life cycle. Anyway, that's my plan. Actually, I don't remember seeing any when
the plants have first growth, so I'll have to notice when this all begins.

For columbine, this nuisance is not considered harmful to plants, just unsightly.

Marigolds always get leaf miners bad here, but of course with such small leaves the damage looks worse than it really is.
Here's the AHS link for the leaf miner info
http://www.daylilies.org/ahs_d...

What I don't ever want to see is those Giant African Snails that have been reported in Florida. If ya'll didn't follow the link above in dormantsrule's post, it's the first article with photo. Nasty little (big) things.

Oooh, me either, Michele. Especially since you have to wear gloves
to handle them. I had to look again to see how they were a health
hazard to humans. I forgot. Meningitis! My goodness.

I have to admire the tenacity of anyone gardening in Florida. I lived there and there are so many bugs to contend with, let alone the heat and humidity. To add to those existing problems they now have idiots importing those destructive and disease ridden snails.......As to leaf miners. The pest that drives me the battiest and has for many, many years is spider mites. I had tried all the chemicals available at the time and all the non chemical treatments also. Nothing worked until they introduced AVID. It's been around now for awhile, and it has been a real solution for spider mites. What the connection is with the question, is that it was originally forumulated to deal with Leaf Miners in Columbines in green house culture. The chemical had a side benefit of eliminating adult spider mites as well. It is translaminar by nature, which means it penetrates through the leaf structure from top to bottom. Easier to spray as you don't have to try and get the underside of the leaves. It is also less harmful to beneficial insects as it is more target specific. No pesticide comes without a price and that price is that AVID, used consistantly, can easily build up a resistance in the pests. Rose growers who used it as a preventative and included it in every spraying, soon found it's effectiveness had evaporated. In order not to do that you should only use it when the pest is present and destructive enough to warrent intervention. You spray Avid on a one week, one week, two weeks rotation. Then you stop. I had a horrible infestation of spider mites on my daylilies (and roses too) this spring because of our warm winter, and ended up having to use it for two complete rotations in order to get control. No more was needed the rest of the year. While I was at it I sprayed for leafminers on my Columbines. AVID may not be necessary in a mild infestation of leaf miners, but I thought you ought to know at least a product that was specifically designed to deal with the problem........Maryl

Avid is the main insecticide I use and I mainly use it for spider mites. We use it along with Ovation which is an ovacide which works on the eggs. Avid doesn't work on eggs and this is why the need for repeat spraying. Even with the Ovation we will spray weekly for 3 weeks. We also use Floramite which is only good on mites and only as a contact though.
Since the spider mites can build a resistance to repeated uses this is why I use the Bayer products for other insects when needed and it is labeled for leaf miners also.


If anyone does decide to use Avid the generic if it is generally cheaper although some places sell it for just as much. I usually find it on eBay for the best price. The generic name is Abamectin .15 EC

I'm watching old campy monster movies and I was thinking how a giant african snail could easily replace giant grasshoppers, blob or man eating ants.


Plot Synopsis: A Floridian woman, Michelle, is in a dayliliy field and attacked and killed by giant snails . When detectives check for foul play, one officer goes to find the woman's home. Instead, he finds the entire town destroyed, with no bodies... Coming to a Theater Near You!

That's so amusing, dormantsrule.

Duly noted, Ladies, concerning the chemicals. I'm adding these names to my
arsenal. I've absolutely had it with the pests.

About Lady bugs. We currently have Asian Lady bugs hanging in wads on the outside of
the house trying to get in to overwinter. I have never seen a Lady bug eat anything, while
the Preying Mantis has a voracious appetite. We try to time any spraying around the
emergence of the Mantis babies so as not to destroy them, or place any adults in a
safe place for awhile.

Also, we recently couldn't find Daconil at the usual place, and finally found it
at a feed store. Noticed on the label that it is less percentage than what we
had bought before, so we will have to double it. So gotta read those labels.
Evidently, all stores do not sell the same concentrations. Bummer. The price
was more also.

Agree, Maryl. Why in the world do people want to import such health hazards to
humans. The importers must know what they are introducing to the country. We may not
have a predator for those things.

Correction on use of Avid. By saying to use it one week, one week, two weeks, I meant to convey spray once in one week, wait a week, spray once again and then wait 2 weeks and spray once again, then quit spraying. Might have sounded like I meant to spray AVID every day for a week. Michele is right about the reason for the additional sprayings with AVID. It only kills adult spider mites, so what you are killing with the additional sprayings are any hatchlings that come out after the initial spray. The warmer the weather the quicker the hatch rate, so you could conceivably spray once again in say 4 or 5 days instead of waiting 7 days after the initial spray. Just depends. Also note that it should not be combined with any other spray material (spreader sticker is alright)....I hope no one gets eaten by giant snails -lol.....Maryl

Well I went out this morning and picked the little Swiss Chard I had left and found a leaf miner in one of the leaves. Never knew that they like Swiss Chard.

Thanks for the heads up, Cindy. Haven't thought to check the greens.
I washed up loads of turnip, mustard, and kale today to cook and put in the
freezer. Didn't see anything on the ones I washed. No insects either,
and that's a first. Maybe I need new glasses. Ugh, just the thought of cooked
pests.

I have never seen them on greens before so that was a first for me.

Seems they are finding new territory to invade. What's next?

I grew a few datura plants this summer and I tell you those darn leaf miners loved them, made the leaves very unsightly.

tink3472 said:What I don't ever want to see is those Giant African Snails that have been reported in Florida. If ya'll didn't follow the link above in dormantsrule's post, it's the first article with photo. Nasty little (big) things.

Michelle - Just read this article and Floridians may be saved by the dogs.
http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetw...