Knowledgebase
What's Eating My Marigolds #867988
Asked May 11, 2024, 11:32 AM EDT
Harford County Maryland
Expert Response
Have you tried using something like a terra cotta plant saucer, laid upside-down on the ground near the plant, to entice any slugs/snails to shelter under it when they are not feeding? That way, they might be easier to detect, both to remove and to identify the culprit. We don't see any tell-tale slime trails, but that might be just the angle of the photos. The spots pictured on the leaf underside do not look concerning, at least. Some beetles or other insects also do feed at night, and earwigs can be more abundant in damp conditions, but either might also take advantage of a shaded place to hide during the day, so the slug "trap" of the inverted saucer might help to identify them as well, at which point you can narrow-down a particular treatment to use for the plant.
Miri