[Ourveggiepatch]

Dear all

I am at a loss as to what could be causing my Turnip leaves to have little holes and brown spots.

I have looked through the Vegetable Expert and the Pest and Dieses Expert and they suggest some kind of beetle that jumps when disturbed or too wet a soil.

They are also now starting to appear on my cabbages which are in the same area of the allotment.

The whole plot is new - only about 3 or 4 months old, we have had our actual allotment since 4th june this year  (as virgin ground) and this is the first seed we have grown - sowed it about 4 weeks ago.

The soil is clay with plenty of rotted horse manure thrown in, currently its rather sticky due to the amount of rain.  The soil PH level was neutural  - I wouldn't have thought that this would have changed much due to the manure and I wouldnt have thought it was the moisture of the soil that would cause this - or would it?

I couldnt see any beetles, catapilers or lave on the leaves or plantlets, however there were a very small clutch of bright yellow eggs on 2 leaves on 2 different plants - none of the other plantlets had any eggs but have the same problem.

The books also suggest a number of other causes but nothing specific and it could be a number of various issues.

We dont appear to suffer from pests on the allotment as its very rural and plenty of enificial insects seem to be around such as ladybirds, dragonflies, bees etc and the other plants i.e bees, toms, cucumber, lettuice and leef beet seem to survive pest free so they must be doing their job.

If anyone knows for certain what this could be and an organic cure I would appreciate it -
if it's too late for a cure preventative measures for next year would be good.

Many thanks

OVP

[noshed]

The little holes will be flea beetle. The yellow eggs will be cabbage whites - rub them off. The best way of dealing with both is to cover with enviromesh or fleece - use water pipe hoops or canes to hold the material off the plants. This will also keep the pigeons off.
This works quite well, is organic and you can use the mesh/fleece again and again. It's a bit of a pain for weeding but it's a small price to pay.

[Ourveggiepatch]

Hello

Thanks for this, they mentioned Flee Beetle as one of the culprits, will cover tonight with enviro mesh/fleece I think we have some.

I couldnt see the insects are the visible to the naked eye? and once I have covered the veg will I be trapping them inside or will the jup/fly off when disturbed which means I wont trap any?

Thanks

OVP

[noshed]

You can just about see them. Some people advocate brushing the plants with a bit of cardboard with something sticky on to catch them but that's a bit too complicated for me. Covering the plants usually works although you may need to resow a row.

[Salmo]

The flea beetles are tiny, black, shiny and jump when approached. They have been a real pain this year. Fleece or mesh will not keep them out and you are quite right that you will trap them in. The sheltered conditions under the cover seem to be what they like. They do most damage when it is dry and plants are growing slowly. They can destroy seedlings.

Usually the plants eventually grow away but they spoil the leaves with the holes. This only matters with leaves you will eat such as rocket.

Derris used to be a solution. Bug off and similar do not seem to be effective.

Has anyone had good results with soap solution or other organic methods?

[noshed]

Enviromesh werks fer me

[mumofstig]

but it's no good putting it on when you already have the beatles, all you'll do is trap them underneath

[Ourveggiepatch]

Thank you all, I think Ill sow a new row and cover the row before they grow thus not trapping the fleas under the fleece.

I used soapy water on my clematis against blackfly - totally failed and nearly killed the plant - wont do that again!

Thank you to all who responded.

OVP