Snail Damage

The damage on the leaves of your vegetable plants looks like snail and/or slug damage – unfortunately, almost every garden in CA has them! But you can get control of them. First, look for the characteristic slime trails on and around your plants. Snails usually come out at night we usually don’t see them feeding. You mention using a pesticide, we’re assuming you mean for insects (?), so that wouldn’t give you any control over these mollusks. Your best defense is to seek them out in their hiding places during the day, or trap them and destroy them/throw them out in a sealed bag. This link has great info about these pests, and very effective ideas for trapping. You may also need to alter the environment to make it less favorable for them (they like to hide in dark moist areas during the day and even on the bottom of your plant leaves). http://www.ipm.ucdavis.edu/PMG/invertebrates/links.otherinverts.html