Diatomaceous Earth is an organic method of protecting plants. How big are the holes? Flea beetles are tiny insects that leave small holes but a lot of them.

It could be the Popeye Beetle. Which wouldn't be such a bad thing. They're one of the few edible insects you find in the garden. Take the Popeye Beetle, add a little bit of Olive Oil, a few sweet peas...and there you go ;-)

I'd guess what mulberryknob said, Flea Beetles. They are real problems if you have any Dogwoods around.... Not really;-)

Flea Beetles are a problem in the spring on potatoes and a bit later on Eggplant. They love eggplant. It wouldn't surprise me to find them on spinach too.

I'm trying eggplant again with instructions from the grower I bought them from to treat them with a spray made with dish soap and water, any dish soap but Palmolive he said. I have Dawn. He said that should do. So I'm going to try because we like eggplant, but so do flea beetles. If that doesn't work I'll try the DE.

It really could be almost anything at this time of the year. Without knowing the size of the holes, we're all just guessing about what it might be. Smaller holes would indicate flea beetles but larger ones could have many different causes.

I have been finding holes in the foliage of some cole crops and some potato plants but haven't seen a single cabbage worm on the cole crops or a single Coloradp Potato Beetle on the potato plants. The holes I am seeing are much too large to be caused by flea beetles. What I did find on the potatoes was a caterpillar that looked like an Eastern tent caterpillar. I hand picked and destroyed it a couple of days ago. You also might have snails or slugs feeding at night. To find out, venture into the garden after dark with a flashlight and see if you find any.

Insecticidal soap is a good option at this time of year although I won't use it in really hot temperatures in the dead of summer because foliar burn can result. Another option would be to spray your plants with neem oil, which is an anti-feedant. You can find ready-to-use products containing neem oil just about anywhere plants and plant products are sold. If you have a larger garden and need a lot, you can buy it in concentrate form and apply it with a garden sprayer.

Dawn

Here is a picture if this helps.

I have been seeing smaller tiny black beetles, that look like flea beetles, but don't hold me to it, I am clueless on bugs. I am going off a picture on Google.

Scott- I hadn't had enough coffee yet to catch all those jokes. It took me a minute! LOL

mulberryknob- I read the dishsoap thing on Pinterest, but it had salt in it.

Dawn-I just might take a walk out there at night! So far, during the day I have seen a bunch of ants, which are eating my strawberries, I guess grubs(its when I turn my soil in the other beds)and any caterpillar looking thing I find I throw far away from the garden.

I laughed so hard that I guess I failed to hit submit with my answer last night. Flea beetles have always eaten my eggplant and hollyhocks. I normally grow the eggplant under cover until it starts to bloom. Last year I didn't cover it and didn't see one flea beetle or evidence of any. Instead, I had those horrible harlequin beetles and they destroyed my Chinese Cabbage. I also didn't have potato bugs last year.

Carol, if you are missing your potato bugs, I can send you some. I have already found them on my potatoes this year.

I have Flea Beetles ever year, they dont seem too shy to eat any plant.

Larry

Thanks Larry, but I think I will decline the offer. LOL I haven't even looked for bugs this year, but I don't have much planted. Get your coat ready because the cold air is moving your way. We took some friends out for lunch today, and the temp was OK at 11 when we went in, but had dropped significantly by the time we came out. Forty degrees with a light mist right now.

Wonder why my picture didn't post? Let's try again!

Based on the posted photo, I'm not sure it is flea beetle damage. When I see flea beetle damage it usually is many small holes---like someone fired a mini-shotgun and the buckshot left the leaf riddled with tiny holes. I'll find an online photo that shows this type of flea beetle damage and link it to show what I mean.

There are hundreds of thousands of leaf-eating insects who could be eating your plants.It generally is not possible to just look at a hole in a leaf and say with certainty what insect caused it. The important thing is just to know that you can break the cycle of leaf-eating by spraying the plants with neem oil, insecticidal soap or the pesticide of your choice. You also could try making garlic/pepper tea and spraying it on the plant as a deterrent. It works with some insects but not all.

I don't waste my time trying to figure out what causes each hole I see. A garden lives out in the real world and will have damage from time to time. That is just a fact of life, and more so if you garden organically. I figure some leaf damage is the price I pay for having organically-grown produce. I'd rather have occasional damage than to eat food sprayed with chemicals.

As cold as it has been, flea beetles are the natural answer because they're only a big issue in cooler temperatures, but you could have 5000 or 500 or 50 different kinds of insects in your garden that also could be doing it.

Carol, As long as I don't grow eggplants, I seldom see flea beetles at all. We used to see them often, but not so much any more, so we must have some sort of beneficial insect that kills them.

Larry, CPBs already? Don't even mention the horrible Colorado potato bug to me. I have all my plants covered up with row cover, but haven't noticed any yet. I did find one cabbage worm on a cauliflower plant today. I handpicked it and squished it. I hope there weren't any that I didn't see because if there were any there, they will be under that row cover for the next day or two and busy chewing away while we cannot see them.

Dawn

Here is a link that might be useful: Flea Beetle Damage--Photos

I have similar looking holes in some of my plants. I tried to go out to the garden the other night trying to find the culprit and the only thing I saw other than moths and spiders is an earwig. I'm not sure if that's what's eating it.

I was reading about making bug traps with a shallow dish filled with beer and another with diluted soy sauce. I tried both but didn't catch any bugs.

Like Dawn, I try to garden organically so I'd rather have a few holes than to spray in chemicals on my plants. I was just looking at my cabbage thinking that I don't mind if they eat the outer leaves if they leave the middle alone. I do like to suggesting of the garlic/pepper spray. I definitely want to try that out.

Thanks everyone. I will try the soap 1st and see what happens. I do want to stay as organic as possible, but I am not against protecting my investment against invaders if push comes to shove.

I had earwhigs and they were damaging my plants with the same sort of damage. The thing about earwhigs is that they also eat aphids, etc. So you have to decide if you're going to take the bad with the good or eliminate them altogether.

Reed