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Hello all
My leeks were rubbish so I cleared them up today. and planted some tulips and pansies instead... meanwhile, while I was sorting through the big bag of leekiness I'd collected to see what I could salvage before composting the rest (enough odds and sods for leek and potato soup, and three more usable leeks, for another leeky dinner later in the week) I noticed some little caterpillar-y things in there and wondered if it was a pest that was troubling them. I had assumed it was the weather to blame for doing them in but am not so sure now!
The caterpillary things I saw were very thin (say about 1mm thickness) and maybe 2cm long, and medium/dark brown. It seemed able to spin a bit as one of them was dangling from a handle on the bag. I also saw, actually on the leaves of the leeks, a few things I thought might be pupa, about 1 to 1.5cm long, only 3-4mm wide and if I remember rightly they were a silvery-brown colour. The symptoms on the leeks were - lots of leeks with wilted / brown leaves, some of the leeks were very soft, possibly rotting but not at the base only on the wilted parts or the outer leaves, sometimes as far down as the base but only a few were soft / rotting actually below soil level. They all had good healthy root systems, it was above ground that the plants were suffering.
Any ideas?
Thanks!
My leeks were rubbish so I cleared them up today. and planted some tulips and pansies instead... meanwhile, while I was sorting through the big bag of leekiness I'd collected to see what I could salvage before composting the rest (enough odds and sods for leek and potato soup, and three more usable leeks, for another leeky dinner later in the week) I noticed some little caterpillar-y things in there and wondered if it was a pest that was troubling them. I had assumed it was the weather to blame for doing them in but am not so sure now!
The caterpillary things I saw were very thin (say about 1mm thickness) and maybe 2cm long, and medium/dark brown. It seemed able to spin a bit as one of them was dangling from a handle on the bag. I also saw, actually on the leaves of the leeks, a few things I thought might be pupa, about 1 to 1.5cm long, only 3-4mm wide and if I remember rightly they were a silvery-brown colour. The symptoms on the leeks were - lots of leeks with wilted / brown leaves, some of the leeks were very soft, possibly rotting but not at the base only on the wilted parts or the outer leaves, sometimes as far down as the base but only a few were soft / rotting actually below soil level. They all had good healthy root systems, it was above ground that the plants were suffering.
Any ideas?
Thanks!
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