Leaf Miners

Leaf Miners are common pests found in vegetable patch. They affect many different plants, including Capsicum. The stage at which they are usually spotted is in their larval stage, when they are seen to leave what looks like squiggly white lines across the leaf surface. These squiggly lines are in fact tunnels under the leaf surface left behind by the larvae as they feed on the plant leaf.

Leaf Miner larvae come from a group of flies (Agromyzidae) (there are about 2500 or so various types) aka Leaf Miner flies that inject and deposit eggs into the leaf. Once they reach larval stage, larvae mine through the leafs just under the leaf surface, feeding on the plant cells. This leaves visible tunnels on the leaf surface. Depending on the type of Leaf Miner, these tunnels may vary in appearance.

Leaf Miners can infect plants with pathogens and at the very least, create openings that invite infection into the plant material.

Leaf Miners will target Capsicum, but are not major pests when it comes to capsicum. There are insecticides available from nurseries that specifically target Leaf Miners or the flies early season.

The good news about us Chilli growers is that we monitor our plants daily if not hourly :) If you see evidence in the leaves of your pepper plants, we find the easiest approach is to remove the effected leaf(s) and dispose in a dustbin. Because of their localized feeding habits, we find removing the affected leaves is sufficient.