What in the hell is eating my chilli plant seedlings?

 


I currently live in Victoria, on Vancouver Island, BC, Canada. I have
just
started, or rather well on the way to having, a good garden on the
go.

Managed to get toms to start, peas, beans, corn, zucchini, cabbage etc.
It's
looking promising.

I have two questions. Some of the plants in the garden have started to
be eaten.
The swiss chard and beans in particular. They have small holes
over the leaves
but I am unable to see any evidence of slugs or snails.
There are quite a few
woodlouse hanging around. Could this be the issue?
I can't actually see anything
eating them and things like the cabbage
and some (some!?) of the sunflowers have
remained unscathed. The peas
are also fine.

Any ideas what this could be?

Secondly, I have always grown chillis from seed in the house then had
them
growin in window boxes in the past (I am originally from the UK and
they did
fine in London!).

I have now started to grow them here, but they get going and then
something
chops the tops off the seedlings! I did have aphids in the
house on some house
plants but I am dealing with these now.

Again, I can't see the culprit but I put them outside this morning in
order to
get them some good sun and they were fine. A couple of hours
later and one of
the seedlings has lost its top and the other has a half
eaten leaf!

What is it!?

Any suggestions gratefully received.

GJCLAYTON




--
gjclayton

 



If it's slugs or snails, there should be a shiny trail of slime where
they have been. If it is possible that it is gastropods, get non-toxic
snail bail that contains iron-phosphate (ferric-phosphate).
--
- Billy
"Fascism should more properly be called corporatism because it is the
merger of state and corporate power." - Benito Mussolini.

http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Zinn/HZinn_page.html

 

gjclayton wrote:

It could be cutworms, or rabbits.  Last year a rabbit topped all of my
little pepper plants.

Where are they getting cut off (ground level, or a couple of inches
high?)  Is the top laying on the ground next to the stump or is it gone?

Bob

 

@gardenbanter.co.uk says...

Sounds like flea beetles.

 


Thanks for all of your responses.

As for the outdoor plants: Swiss Chard, Beans etc... They have been
eaten  by
something which isn't leaving any signs except for the holes.
There are no
trails, or sightings of any beasties except for the holes.
As I mentioned there
are a lot of woodlouse wandering around, the odd
earwig, apart from that I can't
see anything. Its not a major issue as I
think that they are growing fine
regardless.
Do you think that this will impede the growth?

As for the chillis. They are being overnighted inside, near the plants
that have
had greenfly/aphids in the past (although I "think" I got rid
of them). Then I
put them outside and they got eaten right at the top of
the stem. As if the
leaves were the only thing that went. They are tiny
(about 1cm high) and some
are fine. There was a slight ball of ooze on
the top of the stem after it had
its leaves dispatched, this may have
been the plants own liquids gushing out!

Anyway, they were placed in their pot on a low wall and got eaten within
the hr!

Thanks again for your responses.

G




--
gjclayton