Question
This is three years i have bad luck with leaf miners.the leaf miners are in the types of seed starting mixes i use.I used three different typs.As soon as my tomatoes gets their first leaves they are full of miners trails.what can i do this year to help this

Answer
Hi Gilbert,
  Leaf miners do not come from the soil or seed starting mixes. They are the larva stage of flying insects.
Your options for control of these insects are pretty limited.
Because they burrow under the leaf surface, they are immune to most sprayed on control measures. Also you cannot use any kind of systemic pesticide on edible plants.

Leaf miners usually do not do enough damage to plants to seriously harm them. However keeping the leaf miner population as low as possible is best. Here are a few things you can do to keep the population under control.

~ First, keep the plants as healthy as possible with proper watering, fertilizer and control of other, more damaging insects.
~ Remove and destroy leaves with leaf miners in them. Don't remove the very first leaves from seedlings though. Even with leaf miners in them, the leaves are still able to do their job.
~ Remove any egg clusters as soon as they appear on the leaves.
~ You can try spraying the leaves with neem oil. Neem oil is safe on edible plants (up to the day before harvest) and will also help to control other insect populations.

I hope this helps. If you have any questions or need additional information please don't hesitate to ask.
     Thanks
       Tracy