There are several grey-white-beige colored patches starting to show up on spinach leaves. Some leaves are starting to wilt and some plants are having it worse than others. What is this? A disease, virus or mold? No insects are visible. Sorry I don't have a photo.
Perhaps I should have picked the spinach before it became covered in these splotches. It's too far gone for some of the plants. I don't want to eat splotchy leaves. What can be done about preventing this virus if it is a virus for next time? I was planning on removing what's left and either planting seeds or getting starter plants this weekend.
What kind of garden bed do you have, raised or flat ground, fungus virus, if that's what it is, are difficult to remove, they are in the soil and the majority are not harmful, just unsightly. You can try another corner of the garden or plant seed in a long patio pot, try to pick the spinach when it's young.
More likely than a fungus is leafminer. It has been very bad the last two years, on spinach, beets and chard. If you look very closely at the grey patches, you may see the little larvae between the leaf surfaces; the grey is where it has already fed. Only solution I have found is to grow those crops under floating row covers. The chard & spinach not under the covers- I remove the grey part and feed to my chickens.
I really enjoy this garden forum! Everyone comes up with ideas that I haven't thought of. It's great! You know, I took a closer look at those spinach leaves and sure enough, inside between the two surfaces of the leaves are tiny little larvae about the size of a fennel seed. Yuck! I'm throwing those out and starting with new plants. I don't have backyard chickens to feed :^)
My experience with growing spinach in Burnaby, BC, is that leaf miners are a minor problem. They normally only appear in the older leaves which I wouldn't eat anyway. Most of the plant is free of the pests; so I harvest the spinach and just throw away the affected leaves. You don't have to discard the whole plant just because a few leaf miners are present.
My venture into spinach growing has apparently been less than successful this year. The damage from the leaf miners has been extensive. They destroyed about a third of my plants. I now know what to look for before they get out of hand. There's always next time.
