Help! What's eating my garden?

[logefarm]

Hi all, I'm new to this site (and gardening), so thanks very much for helping me!
We moved into a new house in Davis, CA in July and inherited some beautiful, large raised planter boxes. I've never really gardened before, but started with herbs then gradually began adding plants. We've been on a roll, until about 3 weeks ago when something (rodent? worm? squirrel? bird?) began eating very specific things in the garden..
Eaten: All the brussel sprout and broccoli plants (like 24 of them and counting), also carrot and bok choy seedings
Not even touched: Pumpkin, cherry tomatoes, bush beans (with full size beans on them), jalapenos, large bok choy plants, romaine lettuce, red leaf lettuce.

The critters eat the leaves, leaving the stems. I've tried sluggo, rat traps, spraying all plants with hot pepper sauce, so far nothing has worked!

Advice?

 

[bobm]

I grew up in Davis, moved away 20+ years ago since it became the democratic peoples republic of davis. Our pest problem at this time of the year were grasshoppers , ear wigs, and caterpilars.

 

[catjac1975]

You probably have cabbage looper, a worm that eats all members of the cabbage family. BT will do the trick. It is organic and works very well. They may com back if your climate has time. Next year use it just as you see a little leaf damage. I usually only need to use it once. There are other products that kill more insects,. Pyrethrum, is a good organic product too. If it does not look like insect damage it could be wood chucks. they like tender leaves and will leave the plants standing like skeletons. A fence is a deterrent if it is burried 18 inches deep. Traps, guns and poison are easier. But some kind of fence is always necessary.

 

[Smart Red]

How-dee-doo, @logefarm, from south-est, central-est Wisconsin. Glad to have you growing with us. I shore hope your part of CA is safe from those terrible fires. Lots of pros here on gardening in California. Me? Not one bit.

 

[Carol Dee]

@logefarm from the eastern, IA near where the Mississippi runs east to west!
Ahh the frustrations of gardening. Keep at it, the rewards or well worth the energy.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Welcome, glad you joined us!


With the leaves eaten and the stems left it sounds like an insect of some kind, at least with the Bok Choy, Brussels Sprouts, and Broccoli. Carrots, I don’t know. I just don’t usually have things chew on carrot tops.


Can you try to post photos of the damage? That might help. Can you see black specks around? That would be the insect poop. If you could describe that (size, shape) or better photo it that could really help identify what it is.


And I’ll ask an obvious question, can you see any bugs or worms around? Usually if they do that much damage you can see the culprits hanging around.


With most of those crops being damaged (carrots just don’t seem to fit) it could easily be one of two specific caterpillars. Slugs maybe? Even some beetles. In some ways that reminds me of blister beetles, they tend to form an army and wipe out one thing then move onto another, though you should be able to see a bunch of them crawling around.

 

[so lucky]

You could have several different culprits. There are little dark striped worms that have been found eating my cole crops, and mustard. Just skeletonized it. there were only a few old stalks left, so I didn't try to spray or anything. I am becoming a fan of a chemical called Spinosad, which is apparently very specific in what it kills. Not people, reportedly.
You could have a little vole or maybe rabbits eating some things.
You might try going out there at night with a flashlight. some critters feed at night and hide during the daylight hours, the little devils.
Welcome to our forum, where we are almost always civil to each other, and especially to new folks.

 

[catjac1975]

I missed the carrot part. Again I would say woodchucks if they were just mowed down. Woodchucks have specific tastes and they love things when they are tender.The preferences are peas just emerging, beans, butterbeans, just the leaves, carrot tops. If they have nothing else they will eat everything else. They would never touch my tomatoes but ate all of my beans and butterbeans. But a friend of mine can't grow tomatoes because of woodchucks. But, that is all she grows so her chucks will eat them. Mine are more fussy.

 

[bobm]

I missed the carrot part. Again I would say woodchucks if they were just mowed down. Woodchucks have specific tastes and they love things when they are tender.The preferences are peas just emerging, beans, butterbeans, just the leaves, carrot tops. If they have nothing else they will eat everything else. They would never touch my tomatoes but ate all of my beans and butterbeans. But a friend of mine can't grow tomatoes because of woodchucks. But, that is all she grows so her chucks will eat them. Mine are more fussy.

catjac1975 . ..I lived in Davis for over 30 years ... I have never seen one there as they have not ever hometeaded that area or for hundreds of miles around. However, several types of groundsquirels, gophers, moles, voles, jack rabbits,etc. are thick as theives.

 

[hoodat]

Be careful with Spinosad. It's an excellent insect killer but it kills the predators along with the pests and the pests recover faster than the predators do. It's best used only on hot spots, not as a general garden spray.