pest devouring my garden - Ask Extension
I am stumped why my garden is being eaten alive. I do have problems with rolly pollies and slugs. But I have applied diatamatious earth, slug bait a...
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pest devouring my garden #869917
Asked May 24, 2024, 11:25 AM EDT
I am stumped why my garden is being eaten alive. I do have problems with rolly pollies and slugs. But I have applied diatamatious earth, slug bait and slug magic, also seven. They are chewing up my peppers, tomatoes, beans and basically everything except zucchini and squash. Can you help? I don't see any aphids or anything on the leaves. I did find 1 baby slug and I added more slug bait and it seems that things are being eaten more.
Butler County Ohio
Expert Response
Hi Karen,
Thank you for the pictures, but they do not have sufficient resolution to be very helpful. I assume you have thoroughly check your plants' stems and leaves top and bottom, and do not find any insects, adult or larval. Because of your description of the many classes of plants attacked, insects appear less likely. Most of them are specialists to certain species.
Your pictures suggest slugs are still likely. Have you checked the leaves in late evening or night? Diatamatious earth is generally not considered a very good deterrent. My experience is that beer traps are effective. Because you indicate that most of your garden is affected, I suggest you use a few beer traps for additional slug detection to better confirm slugs are the culprit. If you find slugs, you may proceed with more beer traps or other measures, such as those in the linked University of Minnesota Extension fact sheet, https://extension.umn.edu/yard-and-garden-insects/slugs#slug-barriers-298063. If you use any pesticides, please be sure to follow label instructions for treating the specific pest and for proper application methods.
For alternatives to consider when evaluating your garden, the following linked articles may be of interest: https://ag.umass.edu/home-lawn-garden/fact-sheets/whats-eating-my-vegetables and https://extension.umaine.edu/home-and-garden-ipm/critter-id/photo-gallery/vegetable-pests/.
Thank you for your question.
Thank you for the pictures, but they do not have sufficient resolution to be very helpful. I assume you have thoroughly check your plants' stems and leaves top and bottom, and do not find any insects, adult or larval. Because of your description of the many classes of plants attacked, insects appear less likely. Most of them are specialists to certain species.
Your pictures suggest slugs are still likely. Have you checked the leaves in late evening or night? Diatamatious earth is generally not considered a very good deterrent. My experience is that beer traps are effective. Because you indicate that most of your garden is affected, I suggest you use a few beer traps for additional slug detection to better confirm slugs are the culprit. If you find slugs, you may proceed with more beer traps or other measures, such as those in the linked University of Minnesota Extension fact sheet, https://extension.umn.edu/yard-and-garden-insects/slugs#slug-barriers-298063. If you use any pesticides, please be sure to follow label instructions for treating the specific pest and for proper application methods.
For alternatives to consider when evaluating your garden, the following linked articles may be of interest: https://ag.umass.edu/home-lawn-garden/fact-sheets/whats-eating-my-vegetables and https://extension.umaine.edu/home-and-garden-ipm/critter-id/photo-gallery/vegetable-pests/.
Thank you for your question.
