Hey there, I just started my first garden a couple of months ago, and have had some amazing results, and an actual life change because of it believe it or not. Problem is, I am VERY attached to my garden, and when something goes wrong, I panic! Well, this time I figured it looked serious, so I should put on a cool head, and look for help from some pros. So here is the situation: I have four sets of squash plants. All planted at different times. The sets are as follows: 2 Zucchini 2 Spaghetti 2 Butternut 2 Unknown, Prob Zucchini The 2 Zucchini and Spaghetti squash plants listed first, were planted first. They are the ones included in the pictures, and are the only ones affected, so far. The eating started about a week or less ago, and was VERY minor on the Zucchini, but then once the Spaghetti took off, whatever is doing this decided it liked Spaghetti more, and wanted more of it! I have NO idea what could be causing this, and searching on the internet gives a wild range of things to try, and I would like to TRY and stay organic, but will do whatever it takes to keep my little guys alive, well, and feeding my family. So please, if you have a moment, inspect the photos, tell me if you have any ideas and what I should try. Thank you very much for your time and help!!! These Markings are on both plants, no idea if they are relevant?
I agree with Waretrop...but the holes are from slug damage, I believe...or possibly caterpillars. You could actually look on the understdes of the leaves to see if you can see catterpillars or snails. If you do not see them, then I would suspect slugs. There are a variety of smallish slugs that live in the soil and come out at night to forage. Why not wait until 22.00- 24.00 hours to go out with a flash-light and inspect the tops and undersides of your plant's leaves. You may actually be able to catchy the culprits red-handed. You will then need to remove and destroy them, if you can. Keep us posted on how the detective work goes. Good luck.
MogXIII, Yes slugs or something. Go get a bottle of beer and poor it in a saucer on the ground all around the plants and you will catch them over night.
Leafminers are insects that, when feeding, create tunnels in the leaf. Several insects forage this way including beetles, moths, sawflies and flies. While the leaves may look unsightly, miners rarely destroy the host plant. The area where they feed may dry out but that should be the extent of the damage. Miners are sometimes classified by the pattern they make as they eat. Serpentine or tentiform patterns. The slugs are a different story. You should be more aggressive with those munchers as they can eat you out of a garden. Jerry
