Leek moth has arrived

Well, I knew it would happen sooner or later

I was looking at the apprentice gardener's plots as Wrest Park, and spotted that leek moth had arrived here in Bedfordshire. A visit to my allotment confirms it has made its way there too.

The attack seems not too bad, and hopefully they will leave me some, but there is no control (organic or otherwise) other than netting, so it looks like leeks will join the list that must be grown under environmesh. I'm thinking at the moment that I might make some large cages out steel conduit frames, and plant one of my beds (4' x 14') with alternate rows of carrots and leeks and net the lot. Should keep the leek moth and carrot fly at bay.

Yes, here too. Not sure if it's leek moth or allium leaf miner (I didn't ask the grub I found - I just squashed it because I was so cross.) Half the leeks looking tunnelled and ragged, AND the crop was covered with enviromesh. There must have been a miniscule gap in the mesh. The annoying thing is that the little beasts have gone for the giant leeks and left the other weedy variety alone. I've cut all the affected foliage off, which is what I did last year, and got rid of it - hopefully it's early enough for the leeks to sprout up a bit. All I want is some leek soup next year, and a few leeks to wrap ham around!