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Something's eating my pepper leaves

C

cloudhand

Does anyone have an idea of what might be eating the leaves off of my pepper plants? I have noticed a small amount of damage for a few weeks now, but this morning I was shocked at some of the damage that had been done from 2 days ago.
 
Some research has suggested maybe a tomato hornworm, but I have yet to find any on my plants. I have over 30 plants and all but a few have had a least a little nibble on their leaves, but some have some major carnage.
 
Any thoughts on what is causing this and how to stop it are appreciated.
 
I tried posting pictures but have been unsuccessful. Here are the links instead.
 
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B19-Crfu6HqLdHVnWUNnMEdkczA/edit?usp=sharing
 
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B19-Crfu6HqLdU5IS1lSRzFPbEE/edit?usp=sharing
 
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B19-Crfu6HqLc0pOWWhoZ2FhaDQ/edit?usp=sharing
 
You're probably going to have to go out in the very early morning to catch the enemy in action, before it gets light.  Get a photo of it, and post it.  It could be earwigs, worms, beetles...We can only guess.
 
Thanks for the feedback everyone. I went out around 3 AM last night with a flashlight and found one slug on a leaf, nothing else. Maybe it was just timing because this morning there was more damage to many of the plants. It seems that slugs are the culprit here. The slug I found got smashed, so he must have an army of friends helping him out. What is the best way to combat these creatures?
 
You could spread DE if your soil doesn't get wet or damp alot or you can put a lid or small bowl in the soil with some beer in it.
 
I tried the beer trick and that worked a little and killed quite a bit of slugs. Unfortunately, I have had nightly rains for about a week which is flooding the beer out of the lids... and the slugs are thriving in this wet weather.
 
Many of my plants now look like they were shot with a shot gun, nothing much left except a stalk and a few leaf fragments.
 
I picked up some sluggo yesterday and applied it last night with another treatment of beer. It did not rain last night so there may be hope. The beer caught more of the critters and hopefully the bait will keep them at bay enough so the plants can recover and begin growing again.
 
Thanks for all of the replies.
 
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