Chewing Damage

Its hard to say for certain with the relatively small amount of damage we see because several different organisms can chew plant parts; usually their damage is characteristic of the organism, which helps to narrow it down, when we can see patterns in the damage better. It could either be snails/slugs, so look for slime trails on soil and leaves. Look for “worms” (caterpillars, or caterpillar-like organisms), and small beetles (may have black spots or stripes). The snail/slugs hide in the daytime so you have to look for them in their shaded/moist hiding places during the day, or look for them coming out to feed at dawn and dusk; pick them and dispose of them in a sealed bag. Worms can be disposed of in the same way, and you want to look for them on the underside of the leaves (sometimes stems) and look closely as they may blend in with the plant color, and usually leave droppings on the leaves/soil underneath them. Beetles will come and go so their harder to catch, but you can keep an eye out. If damage continues to get worse, you’ll know the organism is still around, but if it doesn’t progress at all, you’ll know its come and gone and you don’t need to do anything, except continue to observe and examine your plants once a week or more. Snail/slug baits don’t work well unless they are applied exactly right and can be toxic to other organisms if you don’t get the right stuff so we recommend just picking them. Caterpillars, when numerous can be controlled with a product that contains (Bt) but you can pick them too if not too many.