Something is eating the leaves off of my broccoli plants

[robertupland]

I've started a few broccoli plants, from seed, just to see if I could get anything out of them. They get a few inches high and all of a sudden I go out to the garden and all the leaves have been eaten off. The stems are still there but no leaves. Anyone know what I can do about it? Here is a pc of the damage:
[img]https://i37.tinypic.com/11axqfn.jpg[/img]

[TZ -OH6]

In most parts of the world its the result of the green worms from the white cabbage butterfly. I don't know if grasshoppers or some beetle would come in and do the same thing in you r area. Spraying with BT is probably effective.

[Kisal]

I've had plants stripped like that by slugs and snails.

[soil]

around here, lots of things like broccoli, from the bugs to the squirrels and the gophers.

[orgoveg]

I'm having the same problem with turnips and Kale. I can't catch the critters in the act, but it's probably army worms. My solution was to re-plant in another part of the garden. I mixed organic fertilizer into the soil before sowing for quick growth and topped with DE powder after sowing. Once the plants are established well enough, I'll spray them with neem oil. (That's the plan, anyway)

[garden5]

There are a lot of culprits, but I think it may be slugs (don't ask me why ).

Try going out into your garden at nigh with a flashlight. If you see slugs, get rid of them. If there aren't any slugs, than it's probably another culprit.

[Alan in Vermont]

Whatever it is, something similar chewed through my cauliflower, then brocolli and into the cabbages. At first I thought it was Bambi & Friends, the plants were all mulched with wood chips so there was no finding tracks. But then they moved in on three brocolli that had gotten mixed in with the cabbages. The cabbages were laid out so that I could till between rows. No tracks, so unless Bambi was swinging from a balloon he was innocent(this time).

The first plants got trimmed down to barely above ground level while the cabbages got huge holes in the leaves, occasionally in the head as well. Cabbages also developed a foul smelling, slimy, almost black, rot. Nasty stuff.

I never did see any bugs except earwigs. Do those ugly bahstuds chew plants? One of the rotten cabbages did have a slug in the slime.

I'm wide open for suggestions or even WAGs if anybody has any insight.

[garden5]

One of the rotten cabbages did have a slug in the slime.

I'm wide open for suggestions or even WAGs if anybody has any insight.

Sounds like it may have been slugs, however, it may also be a cabbage worm --->[img]https://entweb.clemson.edu/cuentres/cesheets/veg/ce113.jpg[/img]

[Francis Barnswallow]

I had a broccoli plant last 3 years. Unfortunaly it died from small green worms eating literally every leaf off the plant. I let it get out of control because I was new at gardening.

I now use the "seek and squish" technique vigorously on ANY possible pest activity nearly every 3-5 hours. So far I've mostly squished eggs, and around 5 armyworms.

The plants are healthy and blooming with only a few traces of armyworms, but nematoads are becoming more active in my garden. I can't squish those bastids.

[garden5]

By the way, what are "WAGs"?

FB, I wonder if the nematodes aren't flourishing because you did such a good job at controlling the other species which may have been predator? If it's not one thing, it's another .