Lovage leaf miner

[jules07]

My lovage was doing really well until it got some sort of leaf miner - the maggots are about 5mm long and eat the centre of the leaves out in a big patch rather than making tunnel-like mines. They've got about half the leaves. Is there anything I can do?

[Flummery]

Had lovage for years Jules and I've never come across this. You would want anything you use to allow the leaves to be eaten, so the old blast with water or spray with washing up liquid in a can might help? Anyone else actually had experience?

[Earthbabe]

No experience of this at all over the years I've grown lovage I'm afraid. Are they actually a caterpillar?

[jules07]

Stupidly I cut all the leaves with them in off yesterday and threw them away so I can't post a picture - didn't want to compost them in case they hatched out. It's definitely not a caterpillar, it's a little maggot crawling around inside the leaves between the top and bottom layers. This is my artist's impression of what it looked like - no laughing. The maggot is actually inside the leaf