Hi Cotgeo welcome to Goy. I have grown leeks but am no expert but I found this link helpful. I was not aware that you could cut back leeks when the wind damaged the long leaves which trailed on the ground. Hope this helps. http://www.gardenaction.co.uk/fruit_veg_diary/leeks_1.asp

Thanks Scotsgran,

Interesting site but I could not find the answer to our problem there.

Regards

Geoff

Today I cut back all the leaves on our leeks, then I came across a small grub inside a brown cocoon (about 5mm long).

It was a the end of one of the almost bare patches of leaf.

So I'm guessing it leek moth grub.

Is the any hope of recovering our leeks? So far I've simple cut them back to where the look healthy.

Geoff

http://www.allotments4all.co.uk/smf/index.php?topic=53417.0;prev_next=prev Try what is suggesrted on this site. They recommend using environmesh and cutting back affected leeks to ground level. See what you think.

Hi Scotsgran,

I took a knife to our leeks about a week ago and cut them back to about 6" from the ground, then gave them a good liquid feed. They recovered well, however last night I noticed the problem was still there so I'm thinking of taking your advice and cutting them right back, it just seem drastic after all the work we have put in.

Its also getting cold at night now here in Denmark, it drops to 2 degrees some nights now, but around 18 during the day, so I'm thinking we should cut them back and cover them with fleece to give them a boost before winter really sets in. (We had snow from mid-November last year which lasted until March - don't need that again !)

Are you certain that in following that advice you are not going to overwinter unwanted bugs which would be better consigned to the fire now. I'm surprised there have been no other comments. Sometimes it is better for the garden to accept that this year you are not going to have your own homegrown leeks.

Hi Scotsgran, I parked the fleece idea, we've had a couple of good weeks of sunshine and the leeks have bounced back, we've only lost one so far and there seems to be little sign of more damage.

Well done. A problem shared is a problem halved is a well known saying in UK. Sometimes it just needs to be verbalised to clear the confusion in your own mind.

Thanks Scotsgran.

I'm English by the way :-) I moved to Denmark 3 years ago. I lived in Staffordshire all my life and had an allotment for years and always grew great leeks, but never experienced leek moth before.

The farmers around here don't seem to be having the same problem, maybe they are using chemical controls.

i did attempt to answer this on the 8th but it just refused to load. i have never heard of leek moths before and i am beginning to believe that the more chemicals that are thrown at plants the more problems we are likely to have as the good bugs get killed off inadvertantly. We found Denmark very expensive when we visited but were shocked at the huge offers we got for our old four door 99 Saab. My husband is a Saab fanatic so no way was it being sold off at any price. A year later it was written off by a french trucker in Scotland. Hubby was lucky to escape unscathed.

Hi Scotsgran,

Good to hear your hubby was ok, sorry about the car.

I'm not surprised about the huge offers for an old Saab, import duty on a car here is ..... ready for it....... 180% of the value of the car! the value of the car here that is. I imported a 10 year old Subaru, the import duty is £18,000, so for now it sitting in the car-port. An old runner like a beat-up 15 year old Astra on Danish plates costs around £2,000! Now you know why you were offered so much.

Old Saabs are really sort after, if its a "vintage" the import duty is much much less, also the service costs for a car here is very very expensive, but if you have a Saab its a different story, the Swede's have set up Saab service centres just outside the ferry ports in Sweden and made the service on Saab's really cheap. So Danes with Saab's simply get on the ferry, which takes about 20 mins, and get their car serviced in Sweden.

Denmark is really expensive, the income tax is around 47%, but wages are far higher than those in the UK. The hospitals are fantastic, and the education system is good, most youngsters go to university, which is free for all school leavers.

It's gone cold here now, we had minus 7c on Saturday, so all our runner beans and squash have gone. If you ever come back May is normally a good month, it always rains in June, the cold starts to bite around the start of October once the sun has set, but October during the day time is great - clear blue skies and sunshine, ideal for working in the garden.

If you visit Denmark again maybe I can give you a few pointers, and places to visit etc.