Something eating my veg

[Bryang]

Some photos of damage to some of my plants, haven't been able to see any caterpillars or bugs. First photo is beetroot, second is rhubarb third is peppers in the poly... Never have I had beetroot stripped like this... Any ideas?

 

[E&MBees]

I wonder if pigeons are stripping the beetroot. Not sure about the other two though.

 

[Bryang]

I wonder if pigeons are stripping the beetroot. Not sure about the other two though.

It started with just holes in the leaves, 2 days later the beetroot was stripped,, so, yes, could have been wood pigeons, although I have not seen any around the allotment for some time.

 

[pargyle]

Flea beetle ... Classic holes in the leaves and then scalloped edges.. Never seen them totally strip an adult plant though. They are very fast and hard to spot. Quite a few varieties of them - some are very small but eat like savages !

 

[Garry R]

Sparrows can be little b******s too

 

[JamezF]

Some of the damage does look like flea beetle, but I've never seen it on that kind of scale before.

I suspect that due to the lack of rain we're seeing all sorts of behaviour that we're not used to from pests and wild animals. Deer have already been into my veggie plot and mowed off the tops of all of the beetroot. That didn't happen until well into the autumn last year.

James

 

[pargyle]

Some of the damage does look like flea beetle, but I've never seen it on that kind of scale before.

I suspect that due to the lack of rain we're seeing all sorts of behaviour that we're not used to from pests and wild animals. Deer have already been into my veggie plot and mowed off the tops of all of the beetroot. That didn't happen until well into the autumn last year.

James

Yes ... you may well be right ... very wet spring and an incredibly dry hot summer down on the Costa del Fareham - very strange things happening as nature adjusts (or in some cases can't adjust) to these climatic and climactic changes.

 

[Bryang]

The only deer around here are the "old dears" I give my spare veg too... Strangely, the wee beasties are also attacking the rhubarb leaves. I have never seen this before, I thought the leaves are toxic.