Question
Hi - I live in Ontario Canada - its my first stab at growing vegetables in my
backyard, and something is eating everything in sight! The leaves on my
mint, beans, basil and even marigolds are being chewed up - some leaves
have holes, and in other cases - especially the marigolds and basil - they are
being TOTALLY stripped. I've stared at the elaves at different times of day and
have seen nothing - except in some cases small spider webs on the plants - I
suspect it's spiders trying to catch what's eating the plants! There are a lot of
ants in my yard as well as sowbugs - could either of these be the culprit?


Answer
Joanne, I doubt that the sowbugs are eating the plants. Their primary diet is decaying plant matter, such as fallen leaves or blooms.

The more likely culprit are slugs. These are soft-bodied mollusks that are in the snail family. They do all of their damage in the evening and night because they cannot function in direct sunlight. During the day, they hide under mulch, soil, or plant debris. But they are voracious eaters and can scale down a plant in very short order. They are especially fond of marigolds, petunias, zinnia, and basil. They also love leafy vegetables such as lettuce.

To control slugs, you either have to trap them or apply a slug control. Slug traps are available, but they need to be baited and refilled every couple of days. Since I only advocate organic products in the vegetable garden, my recommendation would be any product with iron phosphate. The one I use is Escar-Go, a product sold by Gardens Alive. Another good product is Sluggo, sold by Planet Natural. There are many other granular chemicals sold in garden centers, but I would only use those around flowers and bushes since they can be toxic if digested by humans.

Attached are links to companies selling these products:

http://www.gardensalive.com/product.asp?pn=2111&ss=slugs

http://www.planetnatural.com/site/sluggo.html

http://www.planetnatural.com/site/slug-trap.html

I hope this information helps. Please write again if I can ever be of assistance.

Regards,

Mike