Under attack!!!

top4874 · Jul 12, 2010

My plants are under attack from something but not sure what. I have found numerous tiny caterpillars, egg clusters, and small round orb-like eggs on the leaves of the plants. I pick them off when I find them and it is beginning to become a daily thing. I suspect that they are either moths or Japanese Beetles. I also found one bug on one of my Hab plants that I think was an Earwig. I have been spraying they with soapy water every 3 days or so, but the day after I spray I will find more damage and more eggs. I'm beginning to wonder if this is just something I will have to deal with. Below are some pics of the damage. If anyone has any ideas please feel free to post them.

And a pic of almost all of my plants.

BTW- I need help identifying the plant on the left. It was suppose to be a sweet banana pepper plant but it clearly isn't. Any ideas?

patrick · Jul 15, 2010

Not sure what's causing the small holes, I'm having the same issue. The longer holes could be slugs. They're also a problem I'm dealing with. I picked up some SLUGGO and have applied it but not sure if it's working yet. Label says you won't find any dead ones as they crawl away and die a few days after eating the bait. Label said that the damage they cause should start tapering off if it's working. Not real sure yet.

Using soapy water is about as low tech as you can get so don't be surprised you have bugs the next day. If you really want to kill the bugs you'll have to step up a bit in what you use to combat them.

Good luck

thatguy · Jul 15, 2010

The small holes look like flea beetles or at least thats what was causing small holes in mine.

HawaiiAl · Jul 16, 2010

Japanese beetles will do same kind of damage you mite have to step up war fare with poison or dust, neem works if you spray every day for a week.

scarpetti · Jul 16, 2010

That's exactly what cucumber beetles are doing to all of my plants!

patrick · Jul 16, 2010

Cucumber beetles are making the holes in mine. I just caught three of the damn things. Squish squish squish.

top4874 · Jul 16, 2010

I think I narrowed the damage down to some type of beetle. It looks like a Lady Bug but is a dark beige color instead of red. I was killing caterpillars everyday until THIS happened. No leaves left for then to munch on.

scarpetti · Jul 18, 2010

Here's a picture of my cucumber beetle damage. And yes Patrick, SQUISH, SQUISH, SQUISH. When you squish them their guts are all green from all the leaves they're eating!!! Aholes! I hate them...