[8] The larvae of this fly mine the leaves of a range of vegetables and weeds, but seem to favour plants in the families Cucurbitaceae, Fabaceae and Solanaceae.

It is sometimes detected in more northerly parts of the United States having been transported there in plant material, but it is unable to survive in cold weather (apart from in glasshouses).

Plants in the families Cucurbitaceae, Fabaceae and Solanaceae are often infested, and vegetable crops affected include beans, eggplant, potato, pepper, tomato, squash and watermelon.

Celery is also attacked, but to a lesser extent than by the closely related American leaf miner (Liriomyza trifolii), and wild plants that act as host include Solanum americanum and Bidens alba.

However, in the mid-twentieth century, L. sativae became a serious pest of tomatoes in Florida, having been a minor problem before, when use of insecticides (DDT and BHC) proved more lethal to the braconid wasps that parasitised them than to the other insects the pesticides were designed to control.

With insecticides not always being effective, various management strategies have been attempted to control the leaf miners, one possibility being the application of entomopathogenic nematodes in aqueous suspension under humid conditions.