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Is this flea beetle damage?

EmerionEmerion Posts: 599
in Problem solving
I thought the little holes in my rocket seedlings were probably flea beetle, but as you can see some of the leaves have now been stripped almost to the spine overnight. Is that also flea beetle? It isn’t slugs or snails. 

Carmarthenshire (mild, wet, windy). Loam over shale, very slightly sloping, so free draining. Mildly acidic or neutral.


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  • B3B3 Posts: 27,505
    That looks a bit  like sawfly grub damage bit I don't know if they attack rocket.
    In London. Keen but lazy.
  • EmerionEmerion Posts: 599
    I’ve googled sawfly grub, @B3. Wouldn’t caterpillars like that be visible? Do they hide in the daytime? I can’t see anything on or under the plants. 
    Carmarthenshire (mild, wet, windy). Loam over shale, very slightly sloping, so free draining. Mildly acidic or neutral.


  • BobTheGardenerBobTheGardener Posts: 11,385
    There's only one way to be sure, a torch at night.
    A trowel in the hand is worth a thousand lost under a bush.
  • EmerionEmerion Posts: 599
    Thanks for that @BobTheGardener.  I’ve just been out armed with a torch and my reading glasses, and can report that there seems to be nothing currently eating my poor plants, although they have been eaten more by something since I was last out there. This is all very annoying. They’ve destroyed my pak choi seedlings as well. I think I will have to start again, and find some fleece with no holes in it to cover them with. 
    Carmarthenshire (mild, wet, windy). Loam over shale, very slightly sloping, so free draining. Mildly acidic or neutral.


  • bertrand-mabelbertrand-mabel Posts: 2,697
    It must be slug/snails. They are so good at hiding.
    In our polytunnel I have to every day remove snails that are lurking underneath the battens. No chance at finding the slugs.
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    edited August 2021
    Snails climbed four feet high onto shelves to get my pak choi seedlings 😡 🐌 

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • Allotment BoyAllotment Boy Posts: 6,774
    My watercress was eaten by very small almost black caterpillars.  They had dropped down onto the soil, and were very hard to see.
    AB Still learning

  • EmerionEmerion Posts: 599
    I don’t think it’s  slugs or snails because other things on that table, like a variety of tasty new salad seedlings, which are right next to the rocket, are pristine. Also no slime trails. Also, I put down a few organic slug pellets to see if anything ate them, and they are all still there. But I could be wrong of course, I know they are sneaky little beasts. I’m going out to have a look on the lower surface of the table in a minute. I’m re-sowing this morning and will be building fortress seedling with every defence available to me. I will have my rocket!
    Carmarthenshire (mild, wet, windy). Loam over shale, very slightly sloping, so free draining. Mildly acidic or neutral.


  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,117
    I don't find slugs and snails touch rocket, and we certainly have no shortage of them.
    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
  • Allotment BoyAllotment Boy Posts: 6,774
    What rocket do you grow then @Fairygirl ?the slugs have eaten a whole load of mine I had in a bulb pan on the patio. 
    AB Still learning

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