You really can't get rid of the miners themselves as they are the larvae and are between the layers of the leaf tissue so no sprays or dust reaches them. You need to prevent the flies from laying the eggs to begin with and that means row covers and sticky traps from day of germination. Otherwise it is remove the affected leaves and dispose of them away from the garden and hope to get ahead of them that way. Dave

scottamuss, Thanks. I'll go ahead and post it here... By the way, I feel soil quality is more important than water. Far too many gardeners over water. Take the time to learn that there is not a "cure all" for every pest at every stage of it's life cycle. Some won't work if it's going to rain. Some don't work well if it's too hot, etc. Pest management is complex, if you wish to use chemical products, do so responsibly which goes further than reading the label. If you want to learn, a good place to start is here: Integrated Pest Management This lecture is presented in two parts. Each part is 90-minutes in length. Recorded in Sacramento County in California's Sacramento Valley, this lecture is by Mary Louise Flint, Ph.D., Director, IPM Education and Publications, UC Statewide IPM Project and Extension Entomologist & Cooperative Extension Specialist. Education: B.S. Plant Science, University of California, Davis Ph.D. Entomology, University of California, Berkeley Appointment: 100% Cooperative Extension Research Interests: Integrated pest management of landscape, agricultural and garden pests; biological control of arthropod pests; alternatives to pesticides; adoption of alternative practices by practitioners; innovative delivery of pest management information. Topics discussed in the Integrated Pest Management Lecture: * IPM references and resources * Preventing pest problems * Natural common enemies * Making less toxic pesticide choices * Controlling aphids, scales, caterpillars, coddling moths, tree borers, snails and slugs, and lawn insects. You can watch the programs now online: Just make sure you have Real Player installed or download it free. Integrated Pest Management Part1 90 minutes Integrated Pest Management Part 2 90 minutes You'll want to bookmark the following link to Professor Flint's Lab Research on: Controlling Pests in Gardens and Landscapes: Vegetables and Melons I promise you'll learn one or two things to put in your gardening bag of pest management arsenals. ;) On Watering Some people want to customize the water for every plant. It's ambitious to try to give each plant the exact amount of water it needs but not practical or necessary. Even if someone gave you a chart, it would still depend on the quality and friability of your soil as well as the stage of the plant. So long as you have good drainage, the plants will take what water they need. General rule of thumb is that gardens require one inch of water per week by supplementing rainfall. You will have to adjust throughout the season and be attentive to the amount of rainfall you receive each week. There are two schools of thought on watering. Frequent shallow waterings or less frequent long, deep waterings. The general rule of thumb is that mature plants need 1-2 inches of rain per week in summer. You should provide whatever portion of this moisture is lacking. One inch of rain equals 65 gallons per 100 square feet of garden space. But this is just a guide. Time of the season, stage of the plants, soil composition, and many other factors affect the amount of water required. Be consistent during fruit production. Mulched plants require less water than plants that are not mulched. Raised beds require more than non-raised beds. If a good amount of compost is incorporated into the soil, less water is needed. Compost holds 6 times it's weight in water. Watering too frequently and too heavily is just as hard on plants as too little water. Roots require oxygen just as much as they require water and nutrients. Dry winds dehydrate plants. Cooler temps require less water. Those using drip irrigation whether from a soaker hose or milk jug are likely getting the best use of their water which is going right where it needs to go and the ground has time to absorb it. There are hundreds of methods of watering. Whatever you do, just be consistent. But I do agree, twice a day sounds like too much. Roots require oxygen equally as much as they require nutrients and water. I personally believe in a couple of deep waterings per week with the use of 2 inches of mulch to reduce evaporation and maintain a more stable soil temperature. Plants recover from dehydration much better then they ever recover from the roots being suffocated by drowning so under watering is better than over watering until you get the hang of it. Oxygen is equally as important as water and nutrients and rain water is always better than municipal tap water.

It has been established now that users of rotenone have developed Parkinson's Disease at a two hundred and fifty percent greater rate than the general population. I would be pissed if I bought vegetables that may be contaminated with this stuff. Rotenone is destructive to the liver as well as the nervous system in humans, and less than an ounce of it can kill a kid. Speaking of the N word, it's completely naive getting yourself in a situation where you feel you got to use this stuff, I'm with Kimmsr on this one, the purist approach follows a deeper philosophy and understanding of how nature really works. Better planning simply makes the whole job just that more pleasant with the organic approach. The purist approach has worked in our garden extremely well for over five years now, it is simply less work and more effective in every way. Part of the purist approach for me is low nitrogen, high nitrogen even when completely organic causes a lot of infestations becuase it temporarily weakens the plant. I bet everyone who is an advocate of organic pesticides is a high nitrogen advocate. I scarcely bother with nitrogen anymore, focusing on micronutrients and carbon. I've been very surprised how many fewer problems I've had since almost completely backing off on nitrogen fertilization. The university says it's the only major shortage of my soil. Bah humbug, I grow just about everything under the sun, fruit, vegetables, vines, bushes, trees... you name it and I live in Dallas, very tough weather. No infestations, no diseases, it's been a great learning experience defying conventional wisdom but totally fun. When I laid off the high nitrogen, I noticed, no more attacks. The purist approach for me never had anything to do with politics or an existential gaia angst, I'm a right winger, it just clicked in my head one day that organic gardening should be cheaper, easier, and superior in every way. I stopped trying to mimic conventional gardening by substituting an organic product for a synthetic one, I got out of this line of thinking. Proper irrigation helps enormously as well in preventing disease and attacks. Nothing has lead me to change this thinking as the results have whispered in my ear for quite some time, now.

I so wish the local animal control, or fish and game would come take care of the skunk I accidentally caught in my life trap (intended for cats that kill the yard birds). Anyway, I called local, state, fed. and they all said the same, "good luck." So this poor skunk is slowly starving/choking to death, because I'm cowardly and don't want to get sprayed or have the front yard stink for a month...so I have to find a way to deal with this! If the law, which I doubt, says I can't "relocate", then I'm left with killing the poor thing! This is going to haunt me in my nightmares! As for Kimmsr and her "well written" and well-researched input: state laws vary widely, it's best to call and find out if they'll help you before doing anything! If your state, like mine, won't help, here is a Youtube video that I think is the most humane I've seen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E9F16vTJXbk