[MoreWhisky]

Last week one of my brassicas thats 15inchs high was cut through the stem at ground level. I put this down to wind rock as ive never had this problem before. Then it happened to another one and another. I checked all my others and noticed one about a quarter way through with ants on it!

Do Ants chew through brassica stems? 

[MoreWhisky]

Just needed to bump this , does any know if ants can eat through youngish brassica stems please?

[8doubles]

Sounds more like the work of slugs or if no slime evident cutworms , ants do protect some pests which they milk but the most damage ants do is by removing soil from around the roots.

[lancashiregardeninggal]

Agree with 8doubles - I googled 'antseatingbrassicas' and the general consensus is that it is probably chafer grubs or cutworm as ants tend to go for dead material after milking the blighters that have chewed through your brassicas

[Bing]

Sounds more like the work of slugs or if no slime evident cutworms , ants do protect some pests which they milk but the most damage ants do is by removing soil from around the roots.

ants had been removing soil around roots of my gabage, kale, culliflower…maybe those are only places that are soft and digable in the dry soil caused by drought

[MoreWhisky]

Theres no slime about so im gona look into the cutworm thing. Anyone know the cutworm deterent?

[lancashiregardeninggal]

If you google 'cutworm deterrent' there are recommendations for DIY pest control

It says 'A simple ring made from light cardboard cut in 3 inch wide strips placed around each seedling will give protection from this pest - place the collar so that one inch is below the surface of the soil'

So - looks like two sets of cardboard for the brassicas - one for the cutworms and one for the cabbage root fly  

[someoneorother]

Theres no slime about so im gona look into the cutworm thing. Anyone know the cutworm deterent?

You can buy nematodes to deal with cutworms, IIRC