My leeks have been hit bad so I lifted the lot today and harvested what I could save. I now have loads of leafy damaged/infected detritus to deal with. Can this be composted or am I best to burn it?
Posted Sep 14, 2023, 10:42 PM UTC
So sorry. Yeah, I would burn it. But tbh if there are not pupae in the leeks they have already flown..don't give up. I had it all through 2019 until.last year, despite nets.this year seems fine.
I’ve found the little maggots so there is certainly the potential for further flies to develop.
Still, I’ve managed to convince myself that ‘baby leeks’ are on trend this year so it’s not a total loss and at least I’ll get the satisfaction of burning the culprits!
I can't offer any advice but, out of curiosity, have you tried intercropping your alliums with carrots? They're meant to deter onion fly, while alliums deter the carrot fly. It works better if you leave some plants to flower.
I’ll give it a go, and thinking about it, I’ve never had leaf miners in my onions that I do interplant with carrots to deter the carrot fly.
Burn it.
Commiserations.