[BabyStar]

Can someone tell me what would be having a munch on our radishes? They actual bulb itself is showing signs of damage, where they poke through the top. Is it slugs or worms or something else? And what's the best way of protecting them? Should I earth them up a bit? Thank you!

[JayG]

Slugs sometimes have a nibble or two - whatever slug control measure you are happy with is the solution (but slug pellets work best IMO and you can use the "organically approved" variety!)

Earthing up seems a bit extreme for radishes and it might not work if keel slugs are the culprit because they live in the soil anyway.

[compostqueen]

Flea beetle like radishes too

[DD.]

Slugs - red bit.

Flea beetle - green bit.

I grow mine in cat litter trays on top of the water barrel. I get neither.

[compostqueen]

Is that because flea beetle are scared of heights? 

No, seriously, do they not fly above 3 feet etc?  Or is there some flea beetle repelling qualities in your butt water? We need to know this stuff 

[DD.]

I don't know!

I put them up there to keep them out of the way of slugs and didn't get holes in the leaves either - not that that matters with radishes!

[hardcj]

I've had a problem with slugs munching the raddish that's showing above the soil, but the main problem we've had is pigeons eating all the leaves!!!!

[BabyStar]

It is the red part, I thought slugs only went for green leafy stuff! Another lesson learnt. We realised last night that it's time to pull the radishes anyway so we'll get them out of harms way tonight!

[stompy]

Slugs do eat the red part.
Flea beatles don't fly i don't think
They just hop, hence the name flea beatle 

[BabyStar]

Well we lost all our radishes 
We had two lots planted in two different places and when we pulled them they were all ruined. The actual radish was pock marked with perfect circles all over, the bit that pokes above ground and the part below. It looked like someone had shot them up with a pellet gun. No holes went right the way through, just all over the surface. Did see two tiny looking slugs on a couple of them.
Our gardener friend suggested this could be caused by a worm? Not an earthworm, two other types of worms that I can't right now remember the names of. He said you have to protect them somehow when planting which doesn't help the lot I put in before my husband spoke to him!
I am still thinking evidence points towards slugs as witnessed the two that were there when I pulled them up. What does the damage from slugs look like and it does it differ from these wormy things?
We are worried now that if these things are in the soil that a) we won't be able to get rid of them and b) that we'll be saying goodbye to our potato crop as well... 

[JayG]

Even if you hadn't caught some of the culprits "red-handed" I'd have gone for flea beetles attacking the leaves and slugs the stems (the damage is so typical and so common that I can't imagine what else it could be.)

[BabyStar]

Organic pellets have been invested in for the cabbage and runner beans so will put down around the radishes as well and hopefully we won't have a repeat. My husband was most disheartened in losing them but the only good thing is that they don't take long to grow!

[MichelleC]

I had a similar problem with radishes and after further investigation it turned out to be cabbage root fly lavae (maggots). The radishes look healthy enough but when I chopped one in half I noticed a tunnel with a maggot inside. Apparently this can attack all brassicas. I grew some more in another bed and they were fine. So I suppose its down to luck or covering them with fleece when sown.