what are the white swirly lines on eggplant leaves

ashleyjeanburrows 4/25/2011, 2:14 pm

Hi! This is my first SFG, and already I have gotten rid of aphids (woohoo!) and ants (woohoo!) but I awoke this AM to white swirly lines (off white kinda (like wilt lines but not wilted) on a few of my eggplant and cowpea leaves. What the heck is that? I really have no clue on this one, please help!

clfraser 4/25/2011, 2:16 pm

I posted a picture before of that on my eggplant as well as some holes and got a response of flea bettles and leaf miners. My guess is the leaf miners make the swirly lines? I have no idea if this is correct, but maybe you could look into it more or someone could correct me.

elliephant 4/25/2011, 2:19 pm

Leafminers are exactly what I would guess. I've got them really bad this year. Much worse than last year. Plants don't seem terribly affected by them, thank goodness, as I haven't found anything to get rid of/control them, other than picking off leaves.

clfraser 4/25/2011, 2:25 pm

Should I pick off the leaves?

elliephant 4/25/2011, 2:29 pm

If the plant has enough to spare them, yes.

Miss M 4/25/2011, 3:24 pm

I have a few of those on various plants. They destroyed my sweet pea vines in Florida, but it's nothing like that in my garden, at least for now.

A very small sort of fly lays eggs inside the leaves. When the eggs hatch, the little worms or whatever they are eat the innards of the leaf, tunneling through them and creating those lines. They are nearly impossible to kill at that stage. If you remove the affected leaves in time and destroy them (killing the worm), you may prevent the rest of the life cycle, which would normally result in more leafminers.

It is my understanding that one of the most effective ways of dealing with these flies is the yellow sticky trap. It's like flypaper, but on a bright, yellow board. They are attracted to the color and get stuck.

ashleyjeanburrows 4/25/2011, 4:38 pm

I only have them on 2 leaves of a fairly large eggplant so fair. Wondering if I should just leave them alone? Pick tthem off? or do the trap? Thanks everyone for the advice so far. Doing some great research!

Blackrose 4/25/2011, 5:14 pm

ashleyjeanburrows wrote:I only have them on 2 leaves of a fairly large eggplant so fair. Wondering if I should just leave them alone? Pick tthem off? or do the trap? Thanks everyone for the advice so far. Doing some great research!

My advice would be to remove the affected leaves and then setup one of those sticky yellow traps to stop them from getting to the eggplant again. Smile

kjenkins82 4/25/2011, 10:50 pm

One of my eggplants is struggling too. It's my only Casper so I hope it pulls through! We've just had 4 days of heavy rain. It looked okay before the rain started but not super happy. I was finally able to get out today to check on it and found this:

what are the white swirly lines on eggplant leaves Casper10

what are the white swirly lines on eggplant leaves Casper10

Closer view of the worst leaf:

what are the white swirly lines on eggplant leaves Casper11

Am I having the same problem or something different? I could take the leaf off but the plant is still pretty small and doesn't have a lot to spare. I have a Ping Tung in the square beside it and that one doesn't have any signs of the problem. Advice??

shannon1 4/26/2011, 1:55 am

what are the white swirly lines on eggplant leaves 396615

Ashley, in fl. the leafminers are here every spring through summer. I have a very sm. garden so I can use this method I read about years ago and it works. Every morning I inspect the plants and where ever I find leafminer damage I gently pinch the leaf, top and bottom between finger and thumb along the winding trail and it squishes the tiny worm you won't even feel it they are so small. I found a trail on a squash leaf just the other day and killed the worm but did not damage the leaf. I leave the leaves on the plant. There might be plants too tender for this treatment but eggplants are not, and you don't have to pinch very hard.

ashleyjeanburrows 4/26/2011, 8:55 am

thanks shannon1, I'll try that!

Blackrose 4/26/2011, 9:30 am

ashleyjeanburrows wrote:thanks shannon1, I'll try that!

+1 Thanks for that!

My beets and radishes were decimated by leafminers last year. I didn't get one! sobbing

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