How to Control Leaf Miner on Chard

Plant chard in an area of the garden where chard, spinach and leafy vegetables were not grown the previous year. The leaf miner overwinters in the soil near where it infested plants the previous year.

Pull up, mow or otherwise control weeds in and around the garden regularly. Many different weeds can serve as alternate hosts for the leaf miners, which may later migrate onto desirable garden plants such as chard.

Cover the chard with floating row covers or fine netting as soon as plants begin to emerge, at transplant or before the leaf miners become active in early spring. Make sure that the edges of the protective covering are buried or otherwise anchored so insects cannot crawl under the edges of the material.

Remove the floating row covers when the chard is a few inches tall, with several true leaves. Once the chard plant has several leaves, it will be able to withstand some amount of leaf miner feeding.

Monitor the chard and other nearby plants, including weeds, inspecting them regularly for the tunneling damage that indicates a leaf miner infestation. Cut off infested leaves or portions of leaves and destroy them. Do not simply place leaves you remove on a compost pile as leaf miners can still develop and emerge as adults in this situation.