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something munching my lettuce

13 years ago

I went out to my backyard today, and what had seemed to be big healthy lettuce plants, have nearly all been munched up. Whatever it is starts around the outer edges of the leaves on the outside of the plant, leaving jagged edges of the leaves (if very much of the leaf at all). I am growing romaine and buttercrunch lettuce.

Is this caterpillar damage or something? It happened all of a sudden, and hasn't touched my tomato, spinach, broccolli, or strawberry plants.

Comments (3)

tsugajunkie z5 SE WI ♱
13 years ago
Have you looked for slugs at night?

tj
parczel
Original Author
13 years ago
I have looked-- I haven't found any in a while, and there is also no slime trail whatsoever anywhere near the lettuce.

All of the damage was done all at once, suddenly, within a 24 hour period. On heads of lettuce that are 30 feet away from each other... I was thinking maybe a caterpillar or beetle or something? I am having a hard time finding a lot of photos of lettuce pest damage online.

It's 10:30 pm and I just went out and checked with a flashlight for any culprits and didn't see anything except some aphids.
alouwomack
13 years ago
The way you are describing the quick devestation makes me wonder if you have cabbage worms. They are super fast at eating the vegetation and hard to see with their superb camo bodies. Have you found any sign of a bug what-so-ever? For instance . . . a poop trail on existing leaves?

--Amber

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