Pests

janibrown

Something has been chewing through the main stems of my bright lights vegetable seedlings I cant see anything there ! I have searched for slugs and cannot see any my plants are in a large raised bed and I have sprinkled around the plants with dried crushed eggshells to deter slugs I need to get something to stop whatever is destroying them but as I have no idea as to what is is I am unsure of what to buy
Has anyone any ideas as to what is destroying my crops and advice would be really great
Many Thanks
Janice

Sambucus_Nigra

Slugs tend to go for the leaves rather than the stem.

I tend to plant things out much later so that pests aren't as keen.

Are they munching through some of it, or is the plant cut off completely? You may have cutworm if it's the latter.

janibrown

the stem is detached from the plant but a few of the leaves have been chomped too

inamegajam

this sounds very much like Vine Weevel, nasty little beggers they eat the plant from the inside out, and lay their eggs in there as well. can be tricky to get rid of, I would go to get some advice from a garden centre, better still someone who has been gardening for a long time. sorry can,t be of more help.

Lotus-eater

How many are destroyed?

emiff6

Sounds very like cutworm damage to me. Cutworm are actually moth caterpillars. They stay under the soil during the day and come out to graze the veg stems at night. You might find some by having a root round in the soil near the plants, (they do get quite big 3-4cm and can be green, grey or brown), or you may be able to flush them to the surface by completely drenching the bed with water, so you can pick them off.

More info here:

http://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:qcP8_sFktTkJ:www.gardenorganic.org.uk/pdfs/international_programme/TPC12-Cutworm.pdf+cutworm&hl=en&gl=uk&pid=bl&srcid=ADGEESi2qaP_x-A-MA2IcFZm77ZNflcOUj4I1VTDxKgP9Evi9NU-b84fJmAiSzMcefIpue1rb7RcymRR8sa70yqz_-yG2cTrwpfYZQu796nU8nkmWi4FONW0uq7UJgxDicvWXpoejZbM&sig=AHIEtbTKnsAY9Be2nzO-KI6-tjRpzb6LpA

janibrown

Lotus-eater wrote: »

How many are destroyed?

Well 20 planted and 7 have been destroyed :mad:
Been searching in soil can not see anything :mad: wish I could

Lotus-eater

Sounds like cutworm then, one or two may be slugs, I've had it before. But not seven I would have thought. Follow the advice in the above link. And start some more seeds off

It not worth getting upset, it's nature.