holes in broccoli leaves

[mtgarden gal]

hi all
my fall crop of young broccoli plants are getting a lot of small holes in the leaves. I"m reading that it's caused by tiny worms. Will these worms eventually kill my plants, or just cause them to look bad for awhile? What is an organic way to get rid of them?
thanks!

[DoubleDogFarm]

You may also be dealing with Flea Beetle.

Take a look at this https://www.ext.colostate.edu/pubs/insect/05592.html

Have you seen any cabbage worm or tiny black beetles?


Eric

[mtgarden gal]

Hi eric, thanks for the link! I haven't ever seen those in my garden and my plant leaves don't look like those pictured so I'm guessing its not flea beatles. BUT I did see those white butterflys all around my garden this summer. aren't those the ones who lay eggs on the leaves then the baby worms eat up your plants? could that be whats doing it?

[RyNJ]

Flea beetles have been leaving numerous little, tiny holes in some of my plants. It could certainly be cabbage worms, they tend to leave larger (or, if you don't catch 'em in time, very large ) holes.

https://0.tqn.com/d/gardening/1/0/I/T/CabbageWorm.jpg

[mtgarden gal]

well, I've gone out and closely inspected my broccoli plants and yep, found many many tiny and not so tiny small green worms on the leaves. I squished as many as I could before my back started screaming at me. will they eventually kill my plants if I don't do anything? is there an organic spray or way to kill them?
thanks!

[rainbowgardener]

Not likely to kill the plant, could slow it down a bit, if you have a bad infestation.

If you have a whole bunch of them and want to spray something try Bt (Bacillus thuringiensis, sold as Dipel, Thuricide and probably other names). It is a bacterium that infects only certain insect larvae and nothing else, so it is quite safe in your garden, won't hurt honeybees or any other adult forms or non-insects.