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Life Sciences Warwick Crop Centre

British Leafy Salads Association - Leaf miners - spinach and chard

Leafminer damage in spinach and chard crops is causing increasing concern. The main pest is likely to be the beet leafminer (Pegomya hyoscyami) - see link on right hand side.

There is little published information on the life cycle of beet leafminer in the UK and so it is hard to develop a warning system to help growers manage this pest. However, it is likely that growers already have some useful information from regular crop walking and this could be used by the BLSA to develop an initial forecasting system. The form below is the first step in gathering and collating information.

My spinach/chard crops suffer damage due to leaf miner
Months when damage occurs
I have crop walking data that shows the pattern of leaf miner activity over one or more years and would be prepared to share it on an anonymous basis
Privacy notice

This form will be used to manage information about these pests. The information provided will be recorded and associated with your details. The data is for the use of the University/British Leafy Salads Association and will not be disclosed to external organisations. Your data is also subject to the University’s Stakeholder Privacy Notice and the central University Data Protection Policy. You may withdraw from these communications at any time by contacting Data Services at dataservices@warwick.ac.uk.

The University of Warwick is the Data Controller of any information you have entered on this form and is committed to protecting the rights of individuals in line with Data Protection Legislation. The University's Data Protection webpages provide further information on your rights and how the University processes personal data. If you wish to submit a data subjects rights request, make a complaint or report a suspected personal data breach, please contact the University’s Data Protection Officer by email at infocompliance@warwick.ac.uk.

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BLSA logo

Leafminers causing economic damage to chard and spinach differ from the species attacking leafy salad Brassicas. At least five fly species are responsible.

These leafminers have relatively wide host-plant ranges and so, in addition to attacking commercial crops, pest populations often develop on native weed species such as Chenopodium album (fat hen).

In an AHDB project in 2011, the beet leafminer was found to be the only leafminer species causing significant damage to chard and spinach crops in the UK. The pest is sporadic in nature and seems to have local ‘hot-spots’.

Further information

Final report AHDB project on leafminers

Pegomya hyoscyami [Diptera: Anthomyiidae] in Leaf and stem mines of British flies and other insects (ukflymines.co.uk)

Pegomya hyoscyami (mangold fly) (cabi.org)